We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
LAST UPDATE | 10 Feb 2022
YOU MAY HAVE heard about the temporary Salthill Cycleway in Galway. It’s proposed to be a 3km stretch along Galway’s iconic promenade – a place where currently very few people cycle because to do so means negotiating parked cars on one side, and moving traffic on the other. It is always stressful and always dangerous.
But the setting; the hills of the Burren change colour depending on the mood of the ocean and sky. It’s a south facing bay so looking out from the prom, the sun comes up on your left and goes down on your right, always over the sea. It’s completely gorgeous.
The intention to install a temporary Salthill Cycleway was approved by all but one of the Galway City Councillors in a vote last September. The plan was for a two-way temporary cycleway along the coast for six months. A perfect way to see what works.
Positive changes
The overwhelming positivity seemed to herald a sea-change, a shift towards a safer, healthier, greener Galway.
The cycleway period is due to start next month. A recent consultation process on the plan attracted 7,500 submissions from members of the public – 7,500 is massive, by the way. An enormous level of engagement.
We don’t yet know the results of that process.
We do know that in their submissions, many people suggested simple fixes to concerns raised about the plan. Increasing accessibility and Blue Badge parking for example, and alternative solutions for a controversial section at one end of the track that would have impeded two-way vehicular access. Ideas and solutions that could be incorporated to improve the existing plan.
But none of that matters. Because at the very last minute, before the consultation results are in, the councillors have put forward a motion intending to withdraw their September support of the plan.
Yes, you read that correctly. It’s a vote to scrap the Salthill Cycleway.
The motion isn’t to amend or improve the cycleway. The motion is to end it.
If that happens, the 7,500 submissions and solutions therein, don’t matter.
The two-year process to get to this point doesn’t matter.
The €1m of funding available for the cycleway doesn’t matter.
The temporary nature of the plan – a perfect way to learn and improve – doesn’t matter.
That Galway badly needs safe cycling infrastructure, doesn’t matter.
The overwhelmingly positive evidence from research conducted on similar active travel measures in Ireland and internationally, in terms of people, business and even access for emergency services doesn’t matter.
That Galway City Council has not installed even one inch of new, segregated, protected cycling infrastructure in years, despite all the mobility funding available for active travel, doesn’t matter.
None of it matters.
Flawed plan, but a start
It’s hard to disagree with the view that the Council Executive’s plan for the temporary Salthill Cycleway, its communication around the plan, and its commitment to the project was unbelievably poor. But any improvement, however temporary, is better than the status quo.
No change, in this case, is more than stasis. No change is a huge step backwards. What now? This is part of a pattern. During the pandemic, when other cities stepped up, Galway City Council didn’t install a single piece of new, segregated and protected cycling infrastructure.
It did some things. For example, it resurfaced some cycle lanes, it installed some bollards along some existing cycle lanes and outside a national school. It also conducted works and rebranded popular walking routes as a shared cycling/walking space.
But we saw nothing even touching the ambition required to bring about the badly needed modal shift in the city. Now, if the councillors call a halt to the Salthill Cycleway on Monday, it begs the question, what will it take?
The coast road isn’t safe to cycle. Is that okay? I ask this, knowing that I hate when my children want to cycle with me, especially on that road. My 11-year-old son tried it once. Being too close to cars on the way to football training turned him off completely. He didn’t ask again and I’m relieved he didn’t. It was too dangerous.
I now stretch to cycling with the kids sitting on the back of our cargo bike. It’s still stressful, but at least they won’t wobble into the path of a car that’s too close. The Salthill Cycleway plan is temporary and it looks like even that is a step too far for some.
Galway should be leading the way, but instead, we watch as Dublin City, Fingal, and Dún Laoghaire have been transformed, Limerick has a new cycleway on a major bridge used every day by children cycling to school, Cork has made streets car-free and installed two-way cycleways in the city centre. How are we being left so far behind? Galway is the birthplace of the School Cycle Bus movement. People cycle here, despite everything. The lack of ambition is bewildering.
Climate crisis
This obstruction of progress is happening all over the country. All the Government legislation and funding in the world will not make a difference if Council Executives and public representatives, can remain so staunchly indifferent to active travel, without consequence.
When it comes to the Salthill Cycleway, apart from a few noble exceptions, Galway City Councillors appear happy to wait for as long as it takes, for some other plan. A perfect plan, for sometime in the future. Ten years, 20 years’ time is soon enough.
All of the people who have a say here, councillors and those on the executive, will protest that they support safety and cycling and active travel – it is difficult to find any opponents of active travel in Galway – but words will not work this time, it’s action that matters.
The safety of people on bikes matters. Giving people safe alternatives matters. Galway is a city being strangled by traffic. We are living through a climate crisis, in real-time, not a decade from now, but right now. We do not have the luxury to wait for the perfect cycleway plan, it doesn’t exist, because change, by its very nature, is painful, and not everyone will be happy. That’s what change means.
The thing is we have done this before. Look at the pedestrianisation of Shop Street, Galway’s main thoroughfare in 1998. Many were opposed. It took vision, courage and leadership, but none of us would go back to the way it was. This is the same kind of change.
We must provide people with transport options beyond their cars because we cannot continue as we are. The Salthill Cycleway is more than a chance to try out 3km of protected infrastructure in a key location. It’s a chance for Galway to try a different way of living.
Galway City Councillors have a chance on Monday next to employ some modern, pragmatic thinking. We have been talking about a Salthill Cycleway for a full two years now. It shouldn’t be this difficult. I am pleading with them to take on board the suggestions that come from the consultation process and grasp this important opportunity to make Galway a more sustainable, people-centred city.
Gráinne Faller is a communications consultant and a former journalist. She lives in Galway with her family and likes using the bike instead of the car. A community cycle to support the Salthill Cycleway will be happening on Sunday the 13 February at 11.30 am.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Maybe if the green cycle brigade would stop all their objections to the outer ring road, the motorists would stop objecting to cycleways.
@Declan Costello: That’s a bit childish Declan
@Matt O Connell: Outer City bypass is going through the ringer for the past 20 years and not a sod turned.
Galway traffic comes to a complete gridlock if even 1 road is closed due to an accident/burst pipe/ roadworks. The proposed cycleway will reduce traffic in parts to 1-way traffic. Anyone with a braincell and local knowledge can foresee the gridlock that this 1-way traffic will bring to the whole of Galway City including increased traffic flow past local schools.
Cycleways in other parts of Galway City: Westside, Quincentenary Bridge & Bothar na dTreabh (main artery across Galway City) are rarely used. Salthill will be no different.
@Declan Costello: Hi Declan. Cars cause traffic jams, not burst pipes and road works.
Cars make roads outside schools dangerous. Less cars and more bikes and pedestrians would help to greatly alleviate both problems.
And make Salthill a much safer and a more pleasant place to be for everyone.
@Declan Costello: maybe if more and safer cycle lanes were built in Galway, many drivers would switch to cycling, hey presto, less traffic, fewer traffic jams, and no need for the ring road? Saving €600,000,000 of taxpayers’ money.
@Declan Costello: ‘an extra road’/‘an extra lane’ has been proven beyond doubt to NOT improve traffic problems, only attract more cars. Public transport/alternative means of transport are the only viable solution to Galway’s traffic problems
@Matt O Connell: I’d argue the case that burst pipes and roadworks don’t cause traffic jams but I’d love to see evidence of cycleways converting motorists to cyclists or pedestrians.
I, like many others was in favour of the original plan for a 2way cycleway through Salthill on the footpath adjacent to the prom and moving the carparking to the opposite side of the road. What I am not in favour of is the 1way traffic restrictions from Barna Road to Poolnarooma. With these restrictions, they are just moving the traffic somewhere else: onto Threadneedle Road (2 secondary schools), Taylorshill (1 secondary plus 1 primary school) and also through the residential areas of Salthill (Scoil Fhursa and St. Endas primary).
@Declan Costello: Agreed. The lack of a ring road has been strangling Galway for over 20 years. Short commutes to school or work has parents and kids stuck in traffic for over an hour a day. To cover distances in any other European city its size wouldn’t take longer than 10 mins. Until the ring road gets started it should be the only focus for Galway politicians. It doesn’t effect me so much I cycle to work, but I hate what the delays have done to those like my kids who don’t have that choice.
@Eamonn Faller: Hi Eamonn, can you name one City that has managed to grow, develop and progress without the building of a new road?
Nobody is objecting to added public transport, it can coexist with the introduction of a ring road. I’m living in Knocknacarra since the eighties and the CIE public transport route has not changed since then even though there has been huge development in the area. It’s a little more frequent now but there are large areas not serviced by the route and it’s pretty useless unless you want to go to Eyre Square.
@Steve: no, they won’t. This is not Venice Beach. We don’t have the climate to enable comfortable, let alone safe cycling in volume as a commuting choice. Andcthats before you consider distance. 22,000 cars are day come into the city, none of those are cyclable: from North & East Co Galway. Are you seriously suggesting cycling 40km, on the chain, in winter? Are you prepared for the road safety carnage ?
@Matt O Connell:
This proposal doesn’t alternate to traffic… it the most exposed road in Galway..
How about linking the schools Tony the main population centre to the schools
@Eamonn Faller: public transport in & of itself requires roads, to function. Right now Galway dies not have a suitable road network to accommodate existing traffic, let alone public transport. Cutting off a major road thoroughfare will only exacerbate the issue. Let’s get real here, there are 1000s of car users and only a handful of cyclists and the motorists, the commuter, the school-attender, the student, the worker and the tourist are all being sacrificed on the whim of a fringe community. That’s not even remotely democratic. This cycleway wasn’t even debated, and those who voted it through should be ashamed of their inaction on this.
@John Moylan:
Ring-road won’t alleviate this traffic as less than 3% of trips in Galway are East to West, most is going into the city. So what is needed is more efficient methods to get people moving around Galway as there is not the space for more roads and cars. Bicycle is the cheapest and most efficient method we have. If kids could cycle to school safely in the mornings around Galway I guarantee the morning rush hour would look very different.
If people are so sure of this foreseen traffic nightmare, why don’t they allow a simple 6-month trial to show us all how wrong we are. Are you afraid that people might actually use the route to cycle?
The reason you see so few cyclists is because they are utterly afraid to do so with the infrastructure in place. You don’t need a sunny climate for cycling in winter. Amsterdam and Copenhagen (lots of rain) and Oulu, Finland (-20 and snow) manage it just fine.
@Isa: The premise of a ring-road suggests that there are trips that go from one side of Galway to the other, edge to edge. Yet there are only 3% of those trips according to the latest traffic surveys. Most of the traffic in Galway is caused by people wanting to go somewhere in Galway. So how does an outer road improve that situation? One might then propose that the best way to deal with traffic congestion in the city is to enable more people to switch to a more efficient means of transport that can move more people using the same road space. Cycling is the cheapest and most efficient method we have. The benefits of that change would even be felt by those who continue to drive for whatever reason.
@Isa: Cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen you mean which have embraced public transport and cycling.
@Tim Pot: That’s one use. But it would also be used by those who just to get across the river without getting stuck in gridlock and hence use the ring road to get around the gridlock. Also it would be used by those wanting to avoid the cty completely. But I’m stating the obvious to anyone not relying on bs greenparty stats to defend the indefensible, the blocking of a desperately needed ring road which would improve the daily lives of tens of thousands of people. People count too.
@fitzrik: Are you for real. They are just about to start building a 5th ring road around Copenhagen and they also have a major ring road going around Amsterdam. Cycling and public are part of the solution and would work better if there was an option to take some of the traffic out of the city center by finally building a ring road.
“Words will not work this time, it’s action that matters.”. You said it Gráinne, every argument against a cycleway in Salthill by been debunked by evidence. Brilliant article. Thank you..
@Paul McSpadden: au contraire there isn’t a redeeming feature of the Salthill proposal, only negative ones, including road safety and pedestrian danger.
@Paul McSpadden:
Please show the evidence of increased cycling by this route. 2.5 % of Galway cycle to work, how about linking the the main population centre of Galway to the schools
@Paul McSpadden:
Please show the evidence of increased cycling by this route. 2.5 % of Galway cycle to work, how about linking the the main population centre of Galway to the schools l
Why not build the greenway between Athenry and Tuam that locals have been campaigning for years? A safe route which would bring tourism, employment and cyclists to the area of East and West Galway County. Rather then ramming through a cycleway which the locals of Salthill and Knockarra etc are fighting against
@Olivia McGowan: Hi Olivia. I’m a resident of Salthill and I’m all for the cycleway. With Climate Action and Active Travel targets a priority, cars are going to have to get used to sharing the road with others.It’ll lead to a safer, cleaner and more enjoyable Salthill for everyone.
@Olivia McGowan: I really don’t think it’s an either/or situation.
The Quiet Man Greenway should definitely happen, yet the county councillors have voted to remove any mention of the greenway from the county development plan.
The Salthill cycleway trial should happen too. It’s a trial. Learn what works and what doesn’t. We can even tweak it beforehand based on the consultation responses.
@Matt O Connell: no, it won’t.
@Olivia McGowan: because the decision has been made by Co Councillors to NOT build it, and take you on a tour of the Burren instead. We’ll, once they get over the legal challenges the landowners put up….so call back in 20 years…..
@Olivia McGowan: millions spent on cycleways around westport and yet all the local groups of cyclists still use the road next to the greenway.
@Mark Fox: as they are entitled to.
I am sure there are valid reasons why some cyclists choose to use the road at that stretch. I can assure you that they are not doing it to piss you off.
“If that happens, the 7,500 submissions and solutions therein, don’t matter.”….not true if there are a significant number of objections amongst those 7500 contributions. This is not the cyclist versus motorist scenario which is being constantly protected. Like so many I’m both motorist and cyclist, I live close to the promenade, and like everyone who drives in Galway I spend way too much time in traffic congestion. What is being proposed will add further to the gridlock and have a negative impact on many local businesses. There is scope to incorporate cycling infrastructure without discommoding commuters and residents and this needs to be pursued in the longer term, but the short term short sighted band aid proposal that was voted for should be reversed in the upcoming vote, and I hope it is.
@Padraic McDonagh: Trial it. if it does add to congestion , reverse it.
Removing cars from streets like Shop Street, makes for a better , busier environment .
@ChronicAnxiety: That’s an unacceptable burden to place on local businesses only now beginning to return to normal trading conditions. They must not be used as guinea pigs at this critical time, in any circumstances.
@Eoin Roche: cycleways (and pedestrianisation) have been shown to boost local businesses in cities and towns in Ireland and all over the world in cities like London and New York. Trial it, see how it goes.
@IrishSportives.ie: That’s not a universal finding. They must not be guinea pigs now, it’s not appropriate and not fair. Trial it for August and September if it comes to that (one summer month, one school going month), but a six month experiment with people’s livlihoods as the exit from Covid is fragile and uncertain, that’s just not right.
@Eoin Roche:
Businesses and residents approve of cycleways where they have been installed as we have seen in Blackrock, Co Dublin (https://www.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/southside/news/calls-for-extra-public-space-in-blackrock-village-to-be-made-permanent-41108274.html). They won’t be guinea pigs, they’re being presented with a proven opportunity to boost business. I’m a resident of Salthill and safely say 90%+ of the neighbours I’ve spoken to are hugely in favour. To allow one of the busiest roads in the area to remain so unsafe is just not right.
@Padraic McDonagh: re “Like so many I’m both motorist and cyclist,”
The old “I’m a cyclist too” is a common call from people not just in Ireland but around the world before they object to cycling projects.
Re “What is being proposed will add further to the gridlock and have a negative impact on many local businesses.”
Same type of claim is made is made over and over again by cycle path objectors all around the world. It’s rarely happens.
Re: “There is scope to incorporate cycling infrastructure without discommoding commuters and residents and this needs to be pursued in the longer term, but the short term short sighted band aid proposal that was voted for should be reversed in the upcoming vote, and I hope it is”
You would not believe how similar this is to arguments against walking and cycling projects all around the world.
I hope you and people like you realise these kind of arguments are deeply flawed and your need to hold onto the status quo is deeply destructive.
@ChronicAnxiety: no, don’t trial it. This is not a hobby, this is people’s lives you’re messing with. Put in cycleways by all means, as a complimentary or alternative mechanism, but its never a replacement.
@Eoin Roche: Agreed…hate to see it shutdown completely. Would like to see the last Friday and Saturday of the month through to the start of the tourist season used to safely test and navigate our way to an optimal solution.
By Sunday afternoon, the journal should investigate/publish the arguments that caused this major political turnaround (to include an assessment of competence of the decision makers and their process)
@Padraic McDonagh: Don’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results. To reduce traffic try something else. Galway is horrible to drive in. Truly awful. It could be so much better.
@Eoin Roche: Time and again, experience has shown that businesses benefit from making a space more pleasant to pedestrians and cyclists, not just a through road for drivers going somewhere else.
@Paul McSpadden: I live in Kingston and I can tell you 90% the people I talk too are against the cycleway on the Prom…
It would discriminate against the walkers… It is the walkers who would suffer most..
The whole thing doesn’t make sense when you compare it to having a cycle lane on DR. Mannix Rd and link Millers Lane to Thread Needle road…That would link all the Schools to Knocknacarra & Salthill. This makes far more sense… Why are we not trialing that?
@Cowboy Paddy: in what way would it discriminate against the walkers?
Setting up nicely for a ‘quid pro quo’, the camp objecting to the ring road will get their cycleway if the other side withdraw their lobbying of Councillors and vice versa.
In other news, could we not get a column written on this issue by someone with no skin in the game who isn’t showing a deep personal bias in the project’s favour and against objectors on her social media? Just a through Journal Eds.
And don’t come at me over it, I’m in Dublin and couldn’t give a stuff, just some objectivity would be lovely.
@Eoin Roche: you’re trying to imply you’ve no skin in the game, yet, your other comment about businesses is telling.
These kind of measures are proven again and again to improve business despite the fears from businesses.
@Cian Ginty: sorry, but Galway city centre now is a ghost town compared to even the 1980s – and no pedestrianisation then.
@John Moylan: don’t you think there may be another reason than pedestrianisation that may explain the recent quietness of the city centre.
I really don’t think you’d be able to drum up much support for going back to the way it was in the 80s.
17-1 in favour in Sept, now 14 want to do a u turn and revoke it. That’s bad enough but not even waiting for the result of the 7,500 strong consultation is just wrong and an egregious use of power.
@Anton Harris: the more egregious act was voting it in in the first place. Should never have been allowed.
@Anton Harris:
I think someone will ask for the IP address locations… I think might be informative
@Cowboy Ted: that wouldn’t be reliable in any way. My IP location is showing up as Dublin right now but I’m typing this reply from Galway.
Good! Cycle lanes are a waste of money. We have loads of them in Dublin but cyclists won’t use them and hold up traffic on the road instead!
@Fintan Smith: because of all the cars parked on them – amongst other reasons
@Fintan Smith: and as we all know, cars never cause congestion on the roads, right?
@Steve: agreed, quality of tracks is awful in general. Some are lethal at junctions. Leopardstown Road path is like a rollercoaster. The busy road is actually safer to cycle on.
@Fintan Smith: Good cycle lanes are great and used by lots of people (removing car traffic from roads). Look at Clontarf/Grand Canal/Dun Laoghaire. Unfortunately many cycle lanes are badly designed or maintained and not fit for purpose.
@John Joseph Barry: i can’t believe that cycle lane. It’s a joke. No thought or planning went in to it, just a tick box exercise. The Dun laoghaire coastal route is fantastic though!
@Fintan Smith: are you mad? Proper, segregated cycle lanes are probably the best value transport infrastructure a council can spend. By some margin.
Galway Cycling Campaign (@GalwayCycling) Tweeted:
We’ve been here before and we’ve made good choices.
Fears of losing parking, businesses, one-way systems, emergency access.
Leaders then showed courage. Our generation now has a choice: more fear, or a better future.
Join us Sunday, 11.30am, for Salthill Temporary Cycleway. https://t.co/XKVevHpaCe https://twitter.com/GalwayCycling/status/1491424950091403265?s=20&t=9KI-CYtga-3cjmOTv46-AQ
@Matt O Connell:
What are ye talking about Courage… The cycle lane was not fully thought out… It was grossly ill prepared, they didn’t even ask the emergency services…
So are you trying to say they are cowards because they didn’t ignore the Salthill Businesses, Residents, Walkers and Swimmers of the Prom,….
Congrats to the walkers and swimmers of Galway, the cyclists tried to push every one off the Prom for there hair brained idea, hopefully now the Concillors have the courage to push them back…
Seems like Galway is objection central!
@Shane De Paor: I think it’s an Ireland problem rather than Galway specific
@Shane De Paor: yes, the first objection I can recall was Mutton Island Sewage Treatment Plantwhich was led by among others, “sweet little” Michael D. This added millions to the cost. Muttin Island plant has been a success, has cleaned up the Bay will hopefully soon be extended. The current legal objection to Bypass is being led by Cork based group.
This is a time for action, Galway City Council need to follow through on what they voted for a few short months ago.
The Options put forward are not perfect, however throughout the consultation many thoughtful and practical suggestions have been made to address some of the shortcomings.
For Galway City Council to put forward a motion reversing their decision of a few short months ago, after a design and consultation process is hugely undemocratic.
The cycleway is badly needed, get on with it and learn from it.
@Johnny Murphy: voting it in without debate was even more undemocratic. It shows the scant regard for the public that it was.
@John Moylan:
The debate is the public consultation, the debate is the 6-month trial…?
What is more democratic than directly asking the people who live and work there what they think? And for anyone unsure, they are even proposing to show them -in a temporary capacity- what it could be like.
@Tim Pot:
As I said a the cycle lane was ill prepared and even with all these flaws the Cycle mafia want shove it down the residents of Salthill neck…
Lets be clear, the people of Salthill don’t want this… Just look at the reversal by the Councillors. Evey west side Councillor except the Green Party one have withdrawn there support for this..
Why? Becasue people don’t want it and there are better options…
This is so disheartening.
I’m sure there are plenty of people that have legitimate concerns about the one way segment. But there seems to be a lot of bad faith objectors too. And plenty others that just fear change.
It’s a temporary trial. One that surely can be tweaked based on the public consultation before being built. And then we all have six months to learn about what worked and what didn’t.
We’ll learn nothing by doing nothing.
It’s a scandal that 14 city councillors are revoking their support for the trial before they have even received the report of the public consultation.
This carry on really makes me question my decision to move back to Galway after almost a decade away.
There are a lot of cars in galway city because city planning has no objective goal. The low density housing sprawl has necessitated people driving. Coupled with the ridiculous rent and property prices, has forced a lot of city natives to move far away. The the greens come in and tax us more to drive back to work. They’d like us to cycle 40km to work on a bike powered by organic mung beans . Which they would then tax too for co2 output. Now they want to ban parking and driving along the prom lest we have a little bit of enjoyment to allow the chosen few cycle as a luxury.
@Brendan Harlowe: a luxury? Enabling people to at least swap some car journeys for public transport and bikes is a necessity. And it will benefit those who need to journey by car as there will be less of those on the road.
It won’t happen overnight but a significant modal shift away from private car journeys has to happen.
Yes, we understand that not everyone will want or be able to cycle. And public transport, even if it improves tenfold, won’t meet every need. Cars will still exist. Many will choose to drive.
But improve public transport and provide joined up segregated cycle lanes with safe junctions and a significant portion of people will leave their cars behind.
There is no climate crisis it’s bs
Sorry to double post, but for balance (which the journal hates) how about a article from someone opposed to this cycle lane?
Cycle way ? Sort out the bloody traffic problems first but then again you’ll probably get around the city quicker!
@Noel Smullen: cycleways and bus lanes contribute to alleviating traffic. Every person going somewhere on a bike or bus is someone not going somewhere in a car. Fewer cars, less traffic.
In a well functioning city, the vast majority of cycling is people getting from A to B – going to work, dropping kids to school, buying groceries etc. Journeys that would otherwise be done by car.
Only a small minority of cycling journeys are for sport and leisure. Which there is nothing wrong with either of course, but it’s what a lot of those who oppose cycle lanes seem to have in mind – why remove some of ‘their’ roadspace for the frivolous leisure pursuit of middle aged men in snug clothes.
Very disappointing. Apart from the fact that active travel and public transport has to be encouraged everywhere, Galway as a flat city full of students would benefit hugely from cycle lanes. Not to mention the traffic in Galway is nightmarish and more cycling would be a huge benefit to the city. Very poor show by these councillors.
@fitzrik:
This would had very impact at reducing traffic… It is on the most exposed road in the city…There are far better routes which don’t need to be this disruptive…
This was a win for the walkers and swimmers of Galway..
Any know what’s going on with the Galway to Clifden greenway? Is it stuck in legal battles or funding issues? If and when it gets completed it would be of huge benefit and a proper long term solution
We would all love to see less cars on the road, but the solution has to be viable. I would like to see more park and rides so people can drive to the edge of towns, then cycle in. The problem at the moment is cycle lanes being put into towns that are already rammed with traffic. Newbridge is a disaster since the new cycle lanes have been put in and ironically it is clearly more dangerous. We need to look at how the dutch do it, in holland EVERYONE cycles.
@Stephen Nix: pretty sure the dutch did it by putting in cycle lanes in towns and cities that were rammed with traffic. They took space away from private cars and gave it to bikes and pedestrians.
@Gary Mc: i think there is more tonit than than that. Good public transport, bike racks, pedestrianisation. You cant just build a cylce lane and hope.
@Stephen Nix: you’ll find that all of that came about in response to too many cars in the city. There were campaigns in the 70s to take back the streets from cars after hundreds of children were being killed on dutch roads each year. And over the last 40 years they have done just that.
You build the cycle lanes. Cyclists start using them. And you gradually build upon that overtime.
Maybe in a couple of decades we have bike parking garages with spaces for thousands of bikes. But if we can’t build a 3km lane along the seaside now I’m not sure I’d hold my breath.
Then we invite tourists to cycle in Galway and elsewhere. If you cycle out to Barna and other parts of the city you are playing Russian roulette with your life.
Anyone feel that the temporary cycle lane plan was floated to get people arguing against each other. A plan that will not please anyone enough to go ahead but enough to get people arguing amongst themselves . The council don’t want to spend the money needed to resolve this, they know it won’t end with salthill.
@Matthew Donoghue: I don’t think it’s a money issue. There’s been a massive underspend of the pot set aside for active travel.
But you’re right in that the two options put forward pleased nobody.
If the council waited for the report on the public consultation they will find plenty of feedback on what should be changed to address some of the shortcomings.
Wasn’t it revoked before or was that a different cycleway?
@K-dog: You might be thinking of the Strand Road in Sandymount.
@Anton Harris: I know abput Strand Rd, Dublin, but nah it was definitely in the West. Remember at the time that cyclist groups were dismayed by a last minute decision by the county’s council… was like a year ago during the pandemic
Good to see a modicum of sense put this project into the ether yesterday.
have your say