Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan presided over his last ever ministerial ribbon-cutting on Thursday, making an impassioned call to arms to cyclists at the opening of the Clontarf to city centre cycle route.
The former Green Party leader praised the “political guts” of Dublin City Council in forging ahead with the 2.7km route which has been 14 years in gestation but, Mr Ryan noted, for which he had started campaigning 30 years ago.
The route, which runs from the junction of the Clontarf Road and Alfie Byrne Road along North Strand Road to Connolly Station on Amiens Street, is part of a €71 million project that also involves water mains works and new bus lanes. It will for the first time provide cyclists with safe access from the city to the off-road Dublin Bay cycle path, which runs from Sutton to Clontarf.
Dublin today was still “positively dangerous and hostile” for cyclists Mr Ryan said. “It’s not a good place to cycle.”
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However, projects such as the Clontarf route, the Royal and Grand Canal cycle paths, the Liffey cycle route and the increased segregated cycling facilities throughout the capital were going transform Dublin into a cycling city, he said.
“Dubliners are going to turn to their bikes in their hundreds of thousands because it is the best way to get around. It is the fastest, cleanest, cheapest, most social way. It makes Dublin a wonderful city, so let’s build from here and let’s not stop,” he said.
Installing safe cycling facilities was not “anti-car” he said, but a way of offering more choice to people in how they got around the city. “The people of Dublin want this, so let’s keep going, let’s see today as the first step in a dramatic change.”
[ Tolka Estuary Greenway: First look at 2km Dublin Port cycle and walking routeOpens in new window ]
The Clontarf to city centre route was proposed in 2012 at an estimated cost of €7 million. However, the project was beset by delays and underwent several redesigns, including one following protests in 2017 over plans to cut down 50 trees in Fairview Park. The council subsequently amended its plans to save 42 of the trees.
In February 2019, the council published revised costs of €20 million following design changes and the decision to include extensive water mains replacement and new sewerage systems in the project, as well as a link through Fairview Park as part of the Tolka Valley greenway.
The project again stalled due to a failure, the council said, to reach funding agreements with Irish Water and National Transport Authority concerns about proposed bus diversions during construction.
By the time construction started in March 2022 the costs had increased from €20 million to €62 million due to “enhanced streetscape, additional planting and upgrades of the public realm throughout the scheme” and the incorporation of “major upgrades of 6km of water mains and part of the Tolka Valley greenway” the council said.
The project had been due for completion earlier this year but following some revisions to the scheme it was finished this month at a final cost of €71 million.
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