Ryan unveils National Cycle Network plan to create 3,500km of linked cycleways between towns and cities by 2040

by ParaMike46

28 comments

  1. Watch the current rail improvement proposal be torn apart to prioritise this instead.

  2. Oh good now we can all cycle to dublin for appointments instead of having to drive for 4 hours each way

  4. There was a proposal a few years back that the Government should look at “Greyways”, basically take the hard shoulders of the deprecated national routes that had been replaced by motorways or other schemes, and turn them into cycle lanes.

    The opposition wasn’t so much that it was a bad idea, just not a very useful one. Those hard shoulders are already where cyclists and pedestrians are expected to be. Repainting them and adding some signage would do fuck all. Especially when the issue with many of them is maintenance: they’re not swept and trees grow into them. They also disappear a lot without warning, albeit some paint/signage could help with that, but wouldn’t necessarily engage many more cyclists.

    The policy documents do allow paint to be used, although it isn’t preferred. I would hope any such use is sparing. Curbs and bollards should be preferred, with verges used for busier routes.

    There’s also a suggestion around quiet routes. We actually have a fairly dense, well paved road network given our size and population. Likely an impact of our population distribution and the land reforms of the 20th century. I don’t really think quiet ways work without fixed filtered permeability or a lot of road calming measures, which we generally haven’t used very well.

  5. Love this, but for the love of god ring-fence the money immediately as there in a general election on the way and projects like this one are all too often forgotten about by new governments.

  6. Oh, great! It’ll be ready when I’m 91. Woohoo!

  7. Sounds like something I’d support if everything else in the country was running smoothly.

    >The ambitious plan is estimated to cost €1.5bn-€1.9bn 

    I wonder how many 2 br flats you could build for €2 bil (probably closer to €4 bil by the time it’s done).

  8. Aka: we are not going to provide public transport you should cycle. Even if you only have one leg you’d better use it to pedal.

    Don’t get me wrong, I love cycling. But somehow it feels like we are using to replace actual mass transport, which cannot be done on long distances. Or if it snows.

  9. Everything in this country is for 2040: BusConnects, MetroLink, Dart+, Luas extension, Cycle Lane extension…

    It’s as if we’ll miraculously be waking up to a new world in 2040. Kicking the can down the road instead of committing to something seems to be the way these governments operate.

    I hope everyone understands how much of a failure FF/FG’s legacy is and how it’s sinking the quality of life in this country. Every coalition that is lead by these two parties is devoid of any kind of commitment to fix any problems.

  11. All I wanted was a 3km cycle path to the local transport hub. 10 years later…….

  13. Great news ! I’ll tell my 87 year old mam she can cycle the 40 miles to the nearest hospital !!!

    It’s all fine and well but this won’t take people out of cars … who TF is going to cycle from Dublin to Shannon for business?

  15. Hang on, if Ryan is to be believed we’ll all be underwater by 2040. These should be swimming lanes instead.

  16. Nice. Well done yet again Eamon. He just keeps winning…

  17. Ah ffs lads do ye not know sarcasm when you read it?
    Sure it’s nice having g cycle ways n shit, but when public transport is a joke or non existent for most of the country this feels like a slap in the face

  19. Might as well unveil a 2 headed donkey, prick will get the boot in the GE.

  21. Wonderful to see yet another plan. We can add it to the pile of other plans, and if we ever figure out how to make cyclepaths out of plans we’ll be ready to go.

  23. Pretty surprised he’s not wearing a helmet in the press photo

  25. Ireland in 2040 will look like cyberpunk 2077 if all these kick the can down the road infrastructure projects actually happen. Can’t wait.

  26. They are putting in a cycle lane on the Tymon North Road in Tallaght. They are narrowing the road on both sides for it. There was an accident on the road a month before Christmas at rush hour. Person knocked off a bike. He fell in front of the car that I suspect hit him(didn’t see it happen). So the traffic was built up behind the car that was stopped because it was in the accident. The other side of the road was already blocked because people turning left onto the Greenhills only let one or two cars out every second lights. So because of it, it took an ambulance and a fire bridge longer to get to it. But where it happened on the road, the cycle lane is not in yet. But when it is and the road is narrowed, it will be impossible to get a car or anything else around the car that was involved in the accident in the first place. No one seems to think, expect the unexpected when making these plans.

    I hope I explained that right. Lol.

  27. I would rather see my tax income put towards building a monorail from FG HQ into the Irish sea.

  28. Well, at least one thing for sure is they are well on their way to getting a million people in for that 2040 project, sure they might even crack 2 million by then. Fun times ahead, we can all be cycling around high fiving eachother.

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