[Noel Fennelly]

This is a raised cycle track across St. Conleths Bridge in Newbridge, Co. Kildare, Ireland. The raised track is quite narrow, directly adjacent to heavy traffic volumes and a vehicle restraint barrier is located on the inside of the cycle track, between the cycle track and footpath! The surface condition is also quite poor.

The bridge is located beside a major junction with heavy traffic volumes and is the main route to 5 No. schools on the opposite side of the bridge. There are also no dedicated cyclist facilities on the approach roads to the bridge. Needless to say, the cycle track gets very little usage. School children do not use it – the few children who do cycle to schools here, cycle on the footpath instead. Even experienced cyclists prefer to stay on the road than use this piece of substandard infrastructure.

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/yd7RVWZJKh1MjUQY9

[Noel Fennelly]

(a) Suggested incremental improvements

• Widen cycle lane and provide light segregation via bollards, temporary kerbs etc
• Upgrade to permanent segregated cycle track when funding permits. Ensure wide buffer between cycle track and motor traffic – reallocate road space of necessary

(b) what kind of political and bureaucratic opposition this improvement would likely encounter:

• Potential reallocating of road space would likely encounter opposition from many camps including members of the public, local politicians, car lobby groups etc
• Funding a permanent cycle facility might encounter opposition also if local officials are car centric or if resources are tight

[Noel Fennelly]

Segregated cycle track in Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland (https://goo.gl/maps/cyQW1zQg51uwXTdm9)

[Noel Fennelly]

Hi All. I’m Noel Fennelly from Ireland.

1. I’m a Civil Engineer by qualification and have worked in the area of Roads & Transportation for over 13 years.

2. I currently work for a Local Authority which has unfortunately been very  slow to date in implementing cycling infrastructure, so I am very aware of the challenges from a Local Authority & political perspective to implementing cycling infrastructure in Ireland. I hope to improve my knowledge of best practice cycle design on this course, to learn from the dutch experience, and to hopefully use this knowledge to try influence change in attitudes and cycle infrastructure design in Ireland.

3. You can find me on Twitter @NoelFennelly

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