cycle routes

Royal Canal Greenway design puts users at “increased risk”

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– Report says design likely to increase pedestrian and cyclist conflicts 

The current view of the M50 crossing (Image: Royal Canal Feasibility Report )
The current M50 crossing — pictured above — will be narrowed. (Image: Royal Canal Feasibility Report )

Transport minister Leo Varadkar says engineers assure him designs of a section of the Dublin to Galway cycle route are safe, despite a consultant’s report highlighting increased risk between cyclists and walkers.

“The designs are the responsibility of the engineers who assure me that the proposed routes adhere to safety standards,” said Minister Varadkar.

But safety problems with how the Royal Canal Greenway route crosses the M50 – linking Varadkar’s West Dublin constituency with Dublin City – were identified in a report by planning consultants Atkins.

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Cycling against traffic legally

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A recently built segregated contra-flow cycle track in Blackrock, Co Dublin

Contra-flow cycle lanes are far from new to Dublin, but is it time for the city to provide more of these cycling short-cuts? Cian Ginty reports.

Even when driving, one-way streets can be very frustrating, but most drivers don’t realise just how much Dublin’s network of one-way streets is designed for the car.

“One way streets are not something we’re into doing anymore. They tend to work from a car point of view because they generate capacity and longer links for stacking [traffic], but from a cyclist’s or
Dublin’s one-way system is extensive in the city centre area inside the canals – see the map left, showing just the multi-laned one-way streets. It’s nearly the flip opposite of the Dutch model.pedestrian’s point of view they are not great,” says Eoghan Madden, a senior engineer at Dublin City Council.

Our roads were made one-way for capacity to the benefit of motorists and at a cost to everybody else – cyclists who have to live with detours, bus users who have disconnected in and outbound bus stops, and the people living on and round what amount to very urban sections of dual carriageways.

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“Little or no progress” with Dublin’s complex junctions or major one-way streets says report on cycling

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Cyclists travelling from Westmorland Street to O’Connell Bridge

Dublin City has seen “a definite improvement” for cycling in the last five years, an independent report says, but it warns that targets will not be met if the momentum is not stepped up. It highlights how one-way streets and large junctions are not being tackled.

The Bypad report written for Dublin City Council was finalised earlier this year, but was not reported on until now.

“The concise conclusion from the 2011 Bypad audit is that there has been a definite improvement in the quality of the cycling policy in the last 5 years which included the appointment of Ireland’s first Cycling Officer,” the report said. “However, cycling needs to be taken far more seriously as a core part of urban transport policy than it currently is.”

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