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GALWAY CITY COUNCILLORS have voted to revoke plans for a temporary cycleway pilot project in Salthill.
Plans for the six-month trial have been the subject of significant debate in the area, attracting both strong support and opposition.
The project, which was due to get underway in March, is now shelved following a lengthy city council debate last night which saw councillors voting 13 to four against the cycleway.
The Galway Cycling Campaign group has run an impressive awareness drive, culminating in a well-attended community cycle on Sunday.
However, residents and business groups have opposed the plans, saying the disruption would be too severe.
Martina Callanan, a spokesperson for the campaign group, says the councillors have squandered the opportunity to trial safe cycling infrastructure in the city.
“We feel disappointed and disgusted but we’re not surprised, unfortunately. Because Galway City Councillors are big and brave when it comes to talking to talk, but when it comes to action; they go limp, they shrivel, they’re ineffective,” Callanan told The Journal.
Our roads are still dangerous today. We’re still living in a climate crisis. There’s no project, no staff, no funding. They have squandered a tiny, temporary chance for change.
Council engineers put forward two route options for the cycleway. The first option was a two-way cycle lane running along Salthill’s popular promenade with a one-way cycleway from Blackrock to the Barna Road.
The second option was largely the same, but with two-way vehicle traffic included.
Councillor Alan Cheevers, who voted to revoke the cycle lane, said that the options that were proposed by council engineers were “not workable”.
“They were blocking off the main arteries. They were going to impede emergency services, residents, people with disabilities and businesses,” Cheevers said.
“The Council presented two very unworkable options to us. I think, really what they were doing was putting the onus back on the councillors. I felt that they weren’t thought-out, they weren’t properly planned. Basically they were never ever going to work.”
Yesterday’s council meeting heard that almost 7,000 submissions were made to a public consultation process about the proposals.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents were opposed to both of the route options, with traffic, parking and emergency services access frequently cited as concerns.
The Galway Cycling Campaign said amendments were proposed which would have addressed the concerns but they were rejected.
“There’s always concerns with change. Concerns can be addressed. This process allowed for concerns to be taken onboard and for the plan to be updated, but councillors have stopped that possibility. They have stopped the process to improve the plan. That’s on them,” Callanan said.
Last September, councillors voted in support of the temporary two-way cycle lane by 17 to one in favour.
However, several now say that had the proposed routes been in the public domain in advance of that vote it would not have received the support it did.
One of the four councillors who voted against revoking the plans, Owen Hanley of the Social Democrats, argued in favour of a compromise trial based on an improved design and increased engagement with those with concerns.
“In a climate and transport crisis we need change and action. This was our chance and I believe councillors made the wrong decision,” Hanley said.
Cheevers said the debate around the cycle lane has been very divisive and has caused significant tension between cycle groups and businesses and residents in Salthill.
He added that councillors have also received abusive messages from around Ireland for not supporting the cycleway.
“One guy last night came on within five minutes of the vote and he called me a coward. And he’s from Dublin, he wasn’t even from Galway. You were getting activists from outside Galway who were taking part in this debate,” Cheevers said.
“We were exercising our democratic right and we were exercising what we felt was best… Some of the abuse, I don’t think it was right.”
‘System change’
With the temporary cycleway shelved councillors are proposing that plans for a greenway from Galway city to Barna – contained in a report commissioned in 2016 – should be revisited.
The Galway Cycling Campaign says the proposal would have been welcome but is now obsolete due to new design standards.
“We wanted that intervention years ago, but it was quietly shelved, without being discussed by councillors at council,” Callanan said.
“That report is obsolete, because design standards have rightly changed and improved and there are now different processes around developing land for greenways.
“What this debacle in Galway shows is that we need system change. We need system change from the three parties in government and a joint approach from the Department of Transport and the Department of Housing and Local Government.”
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We haven’t a hope of achieving climate change targets just spend 5 million on Krasy Keirwin Junction which has led to more traffic congestion and higher emissions. Planning 600m to a billion on the bypass to nowhere. We are fooling ourselves if we think we generate enough renewable electricity for data centres and a 1 million electric cars.
We have to move away from cars as the primary source of transportation but in Galway there is NO alternative to harming the environment. We could be a world leader in green transport but no backbone or vision from the government.
@bullfrogblues: being totally honest, not only could we generate enough renewable electricity for data centres and 1 million electric cars, we could actually do it ten times over.
@bullfrogblues: I agree , removing the roundabouts which were full of trees , shrubbery , decorative flowers and earth and replacing them with traffic lights ( in the name of cyclists and pedestrians) , painting the concrete a greenish colour to represent grass only created massive tailbacks and worsened traffic problems for commuters and its is not the way forward . The busses that serve the city are now stuck in traffic jams the city council created with these new traffic control measures .. hurrying through an emergency bike track in the busiest tourist part of the city to compensate for their mistakes simply gets businesses and the public up in a heap and has created a nasty atmosphere amongst the fors and against …
@Mark Costello:
It was done for cyclists because they didn’t like roundabouts…
@Cowboy Paddy: cyclists don’t like a lot of things, like red lights or indicating.
@bullfrogblues:
Relax a bit… this was a bad plan… It little in the way of a vision, it is a poor road to relieve traffic congestion as it is the most exposed road in galway and if it is for leisure then the Walkers and Swimmers have been using the facility for decades and have a far higher usage and credibility at using the facilities on offer…
There is a cycle lane from Knocknacarra to Ballybrit which has very poor usage… It looks like one big white elephant everyday… ever ask why that is? With some actual evidence, not some made uppy stuff…
Bypass gives the City the ability to push the traffic out and allow the city to breath… It is proven time and time again… And it is going some where… It is going from West side of City and Connemara to the rest of the country and visa versa… We have the massive travel hotspots on the West of the City too, Hospital, University and Schools…
So here what is an actual plan which instead of shoving down people’s throats we should discuss…
Step 1:
Trial a cycle lane down Dr Mannix Rd and lower Salthill (back to the Crescent)
Step 2:
Buy the Driving Range down by the prom, in a land swap, Swap and build so you get a cycle lane all down Kingston Road…
That links Dr Miller’s Lane to Threadneadle road
Build at the bottom of that a cycle lane through to St John School through the fields.
This costs more but the cost benefit compared to the million spent for that temp job is way higher… If the trail is successful, there would be a cycling link from all of Knocknacarra/Kingston/Salthill to the major schools (that’s about 3,000 secondary students to start)…
@Paul Cunningham: fact
@bullfrogblues: Roundabouts are dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists and they also fail once the traffic gets to a certain volume. The reason Galway was previously riddled with roundabouts was because they were so cheap, compared to a properly implemented junction. Would anyone seriously bring back the Tesco roundabout?
That said, the Kirwan junction does have a number of issues.
Electric cars are green transport.
Brilliant news waste of money
At last common sense prevailed. Totally amazed that people wanted to remove parking, restrict traffic and just cause chaos in a City that is already gridlocked most of the day. Democracy working for the good of all.
@Peadár Ó’Cearnacháin: in 10 years time you will likely have a different perspective, people will fight hard to cling onto their right to move around urban areas unfettered and entitled in two tonnes of steel, if you look more closely at the gridlock you mention, understand that 200 sole occupant drivers will occupy more than 1km of road, that’s 3 double decker buses and bus connects will provide the desired routes and frequency before you bemoan the lack of public transport
All citizens are equal. But some citizens are more equal than others.
@Niall Dunleavy: Yes .. I agree…. All citizens are equal… It’s a shame no government have introduced a tax for all road users. If everyone paid road tax there would be lanes for all .
@Peadár Ó’Cearnacháin: There already is a tax for all road users, whether they have cars or not. That’s how the roads are paid for.
If cyclists are genuinely interested in new cycleways around the country, for Galway the simple solution is to extend the pathway on the promenade, funded by cyclists by paying a road tax on their bicycles.
Council got what they wanted here. They presented two proposals knowing neither was going to be acceptable to the councillors that always know better.
@TomTraubert: The citizens got what the democratic elected politicians voted on….. Common sense prevailed, thankfully.
@TomTraubert: council should have made an application direct to bord pleanala for the scheme rather than a section 8, councillor are easily swayed, I imagine back in the day there were plenty in Dublin who thought pedestrianiaing Grafton Street was a bananas idea
Really show’s how car focused Galway City is. If they don’t build cycling infrastructure how do they expect to get folk out of cars. The city is gridlocked by folk driving an easily cycled distance, then they’ll say it’s not safe to cycle as an excuse. The Galway public need to clear out the current stuck in the past councillors and give way to proactive folk.
Cowboy stop taking sense it gets in the way of the rant.
Millions of Euros will be wasted on schemes like this if the full processes are not followed. Schemes have been pushed in under covid regulations without real consultation.
Better to have an open an honest consultation with the community and the experts in all the fields required to create equal and safe access for all the community.
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