Cyclists call for a halt to construction of cycle lanes schemes pending a review for utility, safety and value-for-money

Cyclist.ie, Ireland's National Cycling Lobby Group, has called on the Government to postpone a recently announced “€4 Million Employment Initiative” that would have involved replacing rural road hard-shoulders with cycle lanes.

The cyclists have pointed out that they have already called for a moratorium on the construction of roadside cycle facilities. They say that many urban cycling facilities already constructed in Ireland have been a poor use of public money and are badly maintained - not even subjected to regular road sweeping and left piled with snow during winter! Cyclist.ie Chairman, Dr Mike McKillen stated “the construction of roadside cycle facilities should cease until a proper framework is in place to ensure their appropriate design, construction, application and subsequent maintenance.” According to the cyclists, the inappropriate use of cycle facilities can actually end up making cycling conditions worse, rather than better.

In the case of rural roads, the issue of maintenance is even more pressing since rural roads are less likely to get any regular attention from councils' road sweeping equipment. In a letter to the Government they state “As a "cycle friendly" treatment, existing hard-shoulders have the advantage over roadside cycle lanes since they are effectively self cleaning and avoid false expectations of safety among the users. It seems wholly inadvisable to replace serviceable hard-shoulders with cycle lanes that are likely to reduce safety and comfort. This is nothing more than a make-work scheme that simply ignores cyclists' real need for safer interaction between motorised vehicles and riders on our public roads".

The cyclists have offered to provide the Government with a range of alternative schemes that would represent a better use of the Smarter Travel money.

One thought on “Cyclists call for a halt to construction of cycle lanes schemes pending a review for utility, safety and value-for-money”

  1. This needs to be stopped, cycle lanes are right in certain places but will be a disaster for recreational cyclists on main roads. Right now the traffic has to respect the cyclist right of way to carry straight on on main roads, put in a cycle lane and the cyclist will have to stop at every left turn for fear of being sideswiped by traffic swinging off the road, no longer recognising the cyclist as part of the traffic flow.

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