Travel Limerick to Nenagh and back on the bike
THE value for money of a cycle way between Limerick and Nenagh, costing around €880,000, has been called into question. The cycle lane is to be developed as a joint project by Limerick County Council and North Tipperary Council along the old R445, and is due to be completed by the end of the year.
However, sustainable travel groups have suggested that the money could be spent on more worthwhile projects.
James Nix of Plan Better, a joint initiative promoting sustainable transport, told the Limerick Post that if the cycle lanes are not maintained, the money will have been wasted.
“If the bulk of the money went on realignment and taking out hazards, fair enough”, said Mr. Nix, who ran in the local elections in 2009.
“But if most of the €880,000 is going on red paint that the councils won’t later machine sweep, the whole exercise will be counterproductive”.
The funding has been secured as part of a €4million Department of Transport plan to create cycle lanes on national roads, which has been criticised by cycling lobby group cyclist.ie, whose belief is that the plans are a poor use of public money.
But Pat O’Neill, senior engineer at Limerick County Council, told the Limerick Post that if the money was not spent on this project, it would be lost.
“This is an opportunity that we would have been foolish to ignore.
“There will always be criticism of projects, but it wasn’t a matter of choosing where to spend the money. It was use it or lose it.
“We are tying the project in with Limerick’s City of Sport title and have had a lot of favourable submissions during the period of public observation”.
Mr. O’Neill said the project is to begin in early October, and is to be finished by the end of the year.
Providing a preliminary breakdown on where the money will be spent, Mr. O’Neill explained that removing existing road markings would cost around €440,000, signage would be an estimated €80,000, survey work a further €90,000 and civil work about €220,000.
“There are 32km of cycle way on each side of the road, so 64km in total. “The existing hard shoulder will be incorporated and we will accommodate existing traffic on the normal road.
“We had a lot of submissions querying safety, but there are many measures being taken to ensure this is paramount, such as ‘vibra lines’, which make cars vibrate when they drive over them, to remind them they are too far over.
“A lot of cyclists already use the route because it is a flat surface with beautiful scenery, but we will include cycle counters to assess the increase of its use with the completed cycle lanes in place”. The route will run from the Stereame Roundabout on the R445 via the Carrigatoher Junction in Birdhill, through to the Carrowkeel Junction on the east side of Limerick city and from there to the Annacotty Roundabout, immediately west of the Mulcair River.
