Coucillors call for cycle lane fixes across Fingal

Sinn Féin councillor Angela Donnelly has called for the cycling infrastructure around Fingal to receive a revamp.

Speaking at this month’s meeting of Fingal County Council, the Ongar councillor noted that the cycle network in the area was constructed around 2009 and has started to show its age.

Donnelly requested a survey of cycling infrastructure in the areas covered by Fingal County Council.

“Many footpaths and cycle paths need replacement due to failures of the tar-bearing surface,” she said.

“Fingal Active Travel came to me with about 10 or 11 issues with the cycling infrastructure in Dublin 15, and I imagine it’s the same across the whole of Fingal.”

She noted that three routes have caused “lumps and bumps,” holes and exposed utility covers.

“We are firefighting in terms of the maintenance of the cycle lanes,” she said.

“My experience is that residents submit emails when it comes to certain parts of the cycling infrastructure and it gets fixed. I know this would cost a lot of money but I really don’t think its  a big ask to survey all of the cycle lanes that are over five years old.”

She noted that e-schools are allowed on cycle paths – owing to their small wheels, it “doesn’t take much for them to go over when they hit a stone, lump or a bump in the path.”

Social Democrats councillor Joan Hopkins noted that a cycle lane that was installed “two and a half years ago” has now fallen into disrepair.

“We put in the infrastructure – and it was torture putting it in!  – and now we don’t have the poles to protect the cycle lanes. If we are putting in the infrastructure, we need the facility to maintain it.”

Fianna Fáil councillor Eoghan O’Brien noted the network in Holywell; he remarked it was in a “state,” put in a request in early 2022, but the issue has yet to be rectified.

“It’s probably an opportune time for us as councillors to have a particular headed item within our works program to deal with this and we should commit to a minimum amount from the road surfacing budget.”

“There should be specific focus within each local electoral area on maintenance and upgrades of cycle lanes,” he said.

He remarked that the cycle lanes in Airside “couldn’t be referred to as cycle lanes,” owing to their state of disrepair.

“They just haven’t been maintained, so there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between the provision of the infrastructure and how it’s maintained. We really need to tackle that within this council term because at the end of the day, this infrastructure is for safety.”

Independent councillor Joe Newman said the fixing of cycling infrastructure should “not be left to residents or the council reports; I think we have to be proactive because it’s a safety issue for children on bikes.”

Labour councillor James Humphreys said the design of cycle paths are “of an old design,” and is causing issues as bikes have gotten faster.

“It’s conflicting with our age-friendly strategy where it is making it more difficult for older people to feel comfortable and safe walking on footpaths.”

“We have to look at upgrading our existing cycling infrastructure and we should look into doing that before we build anymore.”

Humphrey’s Labour colleague John Walsh said that the cycle lanes, which Donnelly noted were built over a decade ago, have been neglected or have not received the same amount of attention as more modern works.

“There is plenty of funding for new projects, but perhaps there has been a gap in maintenance for existing cycle lanes.”

Independent councillor Tania Doyle “we do need to peel it back in the sense that we need to look at the cycle lanes around Ongar.”

“They are actually dangerous. We are asking children and parents to get up on bicycles; how can they get up on bicycles when it’s not safe?”

“I know it comes down to funding and money but we’re being told that Active Travel have lots of money, and the government have lots of money, so can we just send money into the departments that need it?”

She called for every area covered by Fingal County Council to be subject to an audit in relation to the infrastructure.

“There is plenty of funding for new projects, but perhaps there has been a gap in maintenance for existing cycle lanes.”

Fine Gael’s Tom O’Leary kept it country, saying that the infrastructure in Skerries “looks like a bog road.”

“We have a cycle lane that looks great in theory; but in practice it’s a different matter. It’s a bit like one of those bog roads where the road looks good until you get onto it and its humpty-dumpty.”

He noted that the cycling infrastructure in the Dutch city of Utrecht uses a new foundation that prevents the collapse of cycling surfaces.

Green councillor David Healy suggested “crowdsourcing” people’s issues with cycling infrastructure, and using the user-generated data to create a more comprehensive list of when and where people are having issues.

After hearing contributions from fellow councillors, Donnelly said “there needs to be a quid pro quo in the funding we’re getting. It’s brilliant to get funding from Active Travel, but part of the funding should be for the infrastructure. It’s like giving a toy for Christmas and telling them they’re not getting any batteries once the batteries run out.”

“If we’re really serious about promoting active travel, we need to make sure the network is fit for purpose. If we want people to use this, we need to be confident that people are safe when using it.”

The motion was ultimately agreed by Fingal County Council.