Recent visitors to Dodder Valley Park will have noticed work has begun on the Dodder Greenway project that will link the city centre to the Dublin Mountains.
Costing approx. €4m the project will build three new pedestrian and cycle bridges, 750m of new path and 2.6km of upgraded paths along the Dodder Greenway.
The Dodder Greenway will connect communities in Dublin and run through Ballsbridge, Milltown, Rathfarnham, Firhouse, Tallaght and Bohernabreena.
It will be a major new transport and recreational facility for the entire region, catering for both commuter and social cyclists.
Although developed as a combination of off road and on road it utilises existing facilities within the Dodder Valley as much as possible to connect the linear parkland along the route.
The Greenway route is 14km in length and passes along the Dodder Valley from Orwell / Terenure through the outer suburbs of Tallaght to rural and upland Dublin to the entrance to the Bohernabreena reservoirs at Glenasmole.
The route takes specific account of the rich ecology of the area and is a combination of off-road and on-road cycleways that will utilise existing facilities within the Dodder Valley and connect with the linear parkland along the route.
As part of this phase, 3 bridges will be constructed in the following locations:
- Bridge 1 in Firhouse at the rear of the Bolbrook Centre off the N81 at Avonmore Road, Glenview, scheduled to be placed by end September 2020
- Bridge 2 in Rathfarnham/ Templeogue traversing the Dodder River from Kilvere Park at the rear of Rathfarnham Shopping Center to Riverside Cottages in Templeogue Village, to be placed this year in August 2020
- Bridge 3 in Rathfarnham and traverses the Dodder from Springfield Avenue (the rear of Rathfarnham Village) into Bushy Park with a scheduled placement of October 2020.
Following the landscaping and the construction of tie-in footpaths, it is planned to have the bridge phase of works substantially completed by the end of 2020.
The Greenway is funded by South Dublin County Council in partnership with the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund’s S&E Regional Programme.
Councillor Ed O’Brien, Mayor of South Dublin County recently turned the first sod on the site.
“These greenways will be vital to Dublin in the coming years as we try to provide an alternative to car transport whilst at the same time providing scenic routes to cycle through for residents,” he said.