Are there Killer Orcas on the Dublin Road?

Dublin Road Maynooth

During Covid, as a temporary measure to encourage cycling, Kildare County Council provided plastic bollards to reallocate space from drivers to cyclists/pedestrians. Since then, vehicles have damaged many of them with the result that in May this year, Kildare County Council replaced bollards with “orcas” in a number of locations including on the Straffan and Dublin Roads. 

An orca is a moulded plastic separator which is placed along the white line of a cycle lane to discourage drivers from drifting (or parking) on it. While it is an overstatement to label them as “killer  orcas”, the positioning of orcas on the Dublin Road, while unlikely to lead to a fatality, could result in a nasty collision for a cyclist. Firstly, the cycle lane is defined by a line of orcas which is positioned 1.7m from the kerb. This contrasts with the former width which delineated space for parked cars of 2.4m. Reallocation of some of this 0.7m difference would have given cyclists more space. Secondly, at entrances to eight private properties, additional orcas are positioned at a 45^o angle to the footpath which leaves a gap of only 0.8m between the kerb and orca on the left hand side and a gap of 0.4m between the orca and edge on the right hand side of the cycle lane. The Cycle Design Manual specifies a desirable  minimum width is 2m for cycle lanes with an absolute minimum width of 1.5m. 

In Dublin CIty, the Council places orcas on the white line which minimises the reduction in effective width of cycle lane. On the Straffan Road, Kildare County Council positions orcas on the inside of the white line which further reduces the effective width for cycling.

Celbridge Road

As a planning authority, Kildare County Council granted planning permission to Gaelscoil Ui Fhiaich and Maynooth Educate Together school on the Celbridge Road some 25 years ago. It is unacceptable that there are still no safe cycling (or walking) facilities to the schools despite the authorities being aware of a number of road safety incidents. Kildare County Council did attempt to design facilities in 2019 but the quality of the design was very poor. More recently, Kildare County Council employed consultants to produce a high quality design but the NTA has declined to provide funding for the scheme. Maynooth Cycling Campaign is concerned about what elements of the design may be removed in order to meet the NTA approval. We have asked Kildare County Council for a copy of the published design in order to ensure that safety or quality is not compromised in the next chapter of the saga.

Royal Canal Greenway

Maynooth Cycling Campaign welcomes the reopening of the upgraded Royal Canal towpath between Maynooth and Leixlip. We welcome that Kildare County Council has provided access gates in accordance with the Cycle Design Manual which is in contrast to the substandard gates provided elsewhere. We welcome too that there are lengthy sections which have been black topped but disappointed that the Council failed to continue that quality of surface for the entirety of the scheme.

Mill Street

Work continues on Mill Street. The section on the east side between Manor Mills and Main Street is substantially complete and work has started on the equivalent section on the west side. Preliminary work has also started on the proposed pedestrian bridge over the Lyreen River adjacent to Manor Mills. 

The quality of design and construction is generally very high but it is disappointing that the design of the Pound Lane junction continues to prioritise traffic from Pound Lane rather than people on Mill Street. Best international practice and the latest edition of Ireland’s Cycle Design Manual are that footpaths and cycle tracks on a main route should continue across a minor junction. In other words, drivers should cross a footpath and cycle track rather than pedestrians and cyclists having to cross a road. The Manual also states 

 ….. it is recommended that all dedicated cycle facilities …… in urban areas in Ireland should be red in colour.

Coloured surfacing of various colours is used in several countries not because it looks nice but for reasons of road safety – to draw attention to vulnerable road users. Cycle lanes were coloured red on the Straffan Road so it again begs the question “What is the policy of  Kildare County Council”?

Mobility Hubs

In June, IrishCycle.com reported that Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, would announce a pilot project of mobility hubs in Carlow town, Cork city, Dundalk, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, and Sligo town. This was the pilot ahead of a proposed wider rollout of hubs in some 300 centres across the country.

Mobility hubs are defined as locations where people can access multiple types of transportation modes in a central location. While we wish them every success with the pilot hubs, we are disappointed that Maynooth is not included. For a number of years, we have heard whispers of discussions on a bike share scheme between various partners – Kildare County Council, Maynooth University, the NTA and the Department of Transport but nothing firm has materialised. Hopefully something definitive will result from this latest initiative.

Maynooth Cycling Campaign is an independent local lobby group for better cycling facilities in Maynooth and Kildare generally.