Ensuring the junctions give sufficient priority to people cycling
I fully support this investment in improved cycling and walking facilities on Wellington Lane and the surrounding area. I am living in Dublin 6 but travel to St Jude's GAA club up to six times a week with my children (both to the club itself and to other nearby amenities at Limekiln Road and Limekiln Lane). We would love to be able to cycle to the club, leaving the car at home, and have done so on occasion but there isn't really a safe route for children to cycle at present. Fully segregated cycling infrastructure will make it possible for us to cycle more often and to leave the car at home.
I have some concerns about the proposals for the Templeville Roundabout and the Orwell Roundabout. Recent temporary modifications to the Templeville Roundabout have improved protection for people cycling, but only if they are turning left. For people who are cycling straight through the roundabout or turning right, there is ambiguity about who has the priority, the person cycling around the roundabout or the person exiting the roundabout by car. I have personally experienced near misses on this roundabout while cycling with my teenage son as a result of that ambiguity and this is one of the reasons I am uncomfortable letting him cycle the route on his own. I am concerned that this issue is not properly resolved in the current designs. It is not clear from the drawings, who will have right of way while travelling through the junction. We might assume for example that a driver will always give way to traffic coming from the right but will they give way to both motor vehicles travelling on the main carriageway and people cycling on the dedicated cycle route? Or is the person cycling expected to give way at each road crossing? I think the latter would be an unfortunate result and would be at odds with the hierarchy of road users stipulated by the Design Manual for Urban Roads & Streets; and I worry that the former may not work in practice as people driving may be focused primarily on vehicular traffic.
A similar issue arises at the Orwell Roundabout, both in its current configuration and in the proposed design. In this case the proposed design retains the roundabout condition but will drivers exiting the roundabout have right of way over people cycling around the roundabout? And how do you ensure that this is complied with?
For this route to be successful in enabling people to cycle, especially those who find the existing infrastructure too dangerous to cycle on, then it needs to prioritise cycling over vehicular traffic where the two come into conflict. I am concerned that this is not the case in the current designs and that careful consideration should be given to the detail design of both junctions to ensure that this issue is resolved.
Notwithstanding the concerns above I am fully supportive of the project and hope it can acheive a transformation in the way that people move around the area with a much-needed shift towards sustainable modes of transport.
Observations
I fully support this investment in improved cycling and walking facilities on Wellington Lane and the surrounding area. I am living in Dublin 6 but travel to St Jude's GAA club up to six times a week with my children (both to the club itself and to other nearby amenities at Limekiln Road and Limekiln Lane). We would love to be able to cycle to the club, leaving the car at home, and have done so on occasion but there isn't really a safe route for children to cycle at present. Fully segregated cycling infrastructure will make it possible for us to cycle more often and to leave the car at home.
I have some concerns about the proposals for the Templeville Roundabout and the Orwell Roundabout. Recent temporary modifications to the Templeville Roundabout have improved protection for people cycling, but only if they are turning left. For people who are cycling straight through the roundabout or turning right, there is ambiguity about who has the priority, the person cycling around the roundabout or the person exiting the roundabout by car. I have personally experienced near misses on this roundabout while cycling with my teenage son as a result of that ambiguity and this is one of the reasons I am uncomfortable letting him cycle the route on his own. I am concerned that this issue is not properly resolved in the current designs. It is not clear from the drawings, who will have right of way while travelling through the junction. We might assume for example that a driver will always give way to traffic coming from the right but will they give way to both motor vehicles travelling on the main carriageway and people cycling on the dedicated cycle route? Or is the person cycling expected to give way at each road crossing? I think the latter would be an unfortunate result and would be at odds with the hierarchy of road users stipulated by the Design Manual for Urban Roads & Streets; and I worry that the former may not work in practice as people driving may be focused primarily on vehicular traffic.
A similar issue arises at the Orwell Roundabout, both in its current configuration and in the proposed design. In this case the proposed design retains the roundabout condition but will drivers exiting the roundabout have right of way over people cycling around the roundabout? And how do you ensure that this is complied with?
For this route to be successful in enabling people to cycle, especially those who find the existing infrastructure too dangerous to cycle on, then it needs to prioritise cycling over vehicular traffic where the two come into conflict. I am concerned that this is not the case in the current designs and that careful consideration should be given to the detail design of both junctions to ensure that this issue is resolved.
Notwithstanding the concerns above I am fully supportive of the project and hope it can acheive a transformation in the way that people move around the area with a much-needed shift towards sustainable modes of transport.