There is to be 260km of new and improved cycle lane across south Dublin after approval was given at a county council meeting last week.
The ‘Cycle South Dublin’ programme includes 63 projects to deliver a 260km (161-mile) space for cycling and walking – an increase of nearly 50km (31 miles) from a programme that was publicly consulted on in late 2020.
Projects are broken into four council-led phases and include improvements to the existing network, as well as new schemes to be progressed in timescales of up to an eight-year period.
A fifth and separate phase of works is to be delivered by Ireland’s National Transport Authority (NTA) via Bus Connects.
According to South Dublin County Council, the NTA has advised a commitment to increase the council’s active travel fund from €8.9m (£7.74m) in 2020 to €20.7m (£18m) for 2021.
The local authority said the county’s population is set to grow to nearly 330,000 people by 2030 – an increase of nearly 50,000 people since 2016.
In recent years, the council has progressed eight active travel projects totalling approximately 21km (13 miles) of new and improved cycle lanes.
Cllr Ed O’Brien, mayor of South Dublin County, said traffic congestion had “grown by 11% on our main roads since 2016. This results not only in lost time but also has negative environmental, economic and health impacts.
“Private vehicles will always have an important role to play in how people move around our county, but we quickly need to offer people high-quality public transport alternatives and cycling and walking are critical to this.”
At the meeting, some councillors expressed concerns around whether emergency services would be able to navigate down some of the routes.
Mick Mulhern, director of land use, planning and transportation at South Dublin County Council, said: “As part of the public consultation, it was clear there is significant local support for this scale of work across the county.
“Councillors have now given us a clear steer that they want us to progress with our mission of providing people with a well-connected, and safe cycle network that offers people a credible alternative to using the car.
“We will now be turning our attention to progressing the design and delivery of these projects.”
