Dublin City Council has been working hard this year to ensure that BusConnects is “environment and traffic proof.”
Labour Party Councillor Marie Sherlock said the original BusConnects plans “didn’t take in all the environmental concerns.” In 2014, areas like Phibsborough had “50,000 cars go through Doyle’s Corner” creating the need for radical changes to the infrastructure of Dublin city.
“BusConnects is not radical enough with deterring cars and promoting pedestrian and cycle access,” Cllr Sherlock said.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) has designed a new Public Realm Improvementscheme for Phibsborough Village. It aims to encourage higher pedestrian usage by widening the footpath and adding pedestrian crossing.
The NTA hopes a new Royal Canal CycleWay will help reduce traffic congestion along the canal. Cllr. Sherlock has welcomed this idea: “It will at least provide a safe cycle route for cyclists through an area that’s incredibly congested.”
The initial BusConnects plans laid out by the NTA would have removed trees along Mobhi Road to implement bus lanes and cycle lanes. However, this led to an outcry among locals. The NTA is now exploring alternative options that would keep the trees.
Cllr. Sherlock said: “Thankfully the NTA have agreed to change their plans now and are looking at a very different type of proposal for the area. They’re going with a variation of one of their original proposals, which is to keep the trees but close the road to cars for some time.”
Breakingnews.ie reported that Dubliner’s would have their say on the latest plan for the redesign of BusConnects after concerns from thousands of people. The consultation period closed on 10 December, but concerns remain over the impact that bus corridors will have on local communities and businesses.
Eileen Walsh, a Sales assistant at ACME Blinds in Terenure said: “I don’t think people will be hopping on and off buses to come into businesses.”
Joe Cripps is another local business person who fears that BusConnects will affect the local community: “As a kid’s shoe business, a lot of people will drive here cause they’ve got small children.
“Customers could be coming from the other side of the city, out in Kildare, wherever. They’ll come in the M50, and they’ll come down from Tallaght, Templeogue. So with the bus corridor there, it is going to make it more restrictive to get into the village.”
The
National Transport Authority’s (NTA) BusConnects
proposal recently finished its latest round of public consultations. However,
many people are still concerned about the impact it will have on local
communities.
BusConnects
is a plan to redesign bus
routes, which was announced last year. Following a series of public
consultations, the proposed bus network was redesigned. The NTA will now
analyse the submissions made at the most recent set of consultations.
The
current plan would see a series of new bus corridors throughout the city, many
of which would be running through communities. It will require roads to be
widened in order to facilitate extra bus and cycle lanes. Some residents and
business owners have expressed concern that areas will be unable to cope with
wider roads and increased traffic as a result of these corridors.
TheCity.ie spoke
to NTA representative Con Kehely about the impact that BusConnects may have on local communities. He said: “As part of
the design process for the schemes, a comprehensive environmental impact assessment
report is currently being prepared outlining the baseline of current conditions
on a diverse range of environmental factors along each route.
Areas
which will be examined by the report will be issues of employment, human health,
the environment, water and air quality and the impact on amenities, according to Kehely.
An example of how the new bus corridors aim to speed up journeys. Credit: BusConnects, Rathfarnham to City Centre presentation
The
plan aims to create eight major routes that lead into the city centre called spines, which will aim to increase the
frequency of buses running. The NTA also hopes that bus journeys will be
reduced significantly.
One
of the spine routes proposed is Tallaght to Terenure. David Wynne, owner of The Dublin School of Music in Terenure,
is worried about the impact it could have on the area. He said: “I think the
way they’ve designed the plan makes no sense. To propose ‘super highways’
through villages and to basically try and artificially force cars off the road
where the two can probably run in tandem even with a connected fare system.”
Residents
and business owners in Rathgar, Terenure, Rathfarnham, Templeogue and Harold’s
Cross launched the Community Not Corridor
campaign earlier this year to highlight their concerns and oppose the
plans.
“I think they’re ticking a box by having public consultations. I also believe there are very serious concerns for child safety as well as pedestrian safety”
Deirdre
O’Connor is a co-owner of Dress Circle which
has been in Terenure for over 40 years. She has expressed her worry about the
potential impact of BusConnects: “It
will be disastrous for the area. The impact will be very negative for
businesses in Terenure Village because it will mean access in and out will just
be non-existent.
“Apart
from everything else, there is no room. Even if they take away half of the
footpaths, there is still not room for what they intend.”
The
NTA are yet to finalise their plans and will continue to release documents and
engage with the public over the next few months. Mr Kehely said: “Prior to the
publication of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report, it is intended to
publish an Environmental Scoping Report in the coming months outlining how the
NTA and their design team intend measuring the baseline for these environmental
factors.
The Community Not Corridor campaign is active in Rathgar. Credit: Aidan Coyle
“It
will outline how the impacts will be quantified in the final environmental impact
assessment report. This Scoping Report will be published as part of the new public
consultation scheduled in the coming months.”
David
Wynne is worried that the NTA are not addressing the concerns made at
consultations. He said: “I think they’re ticking a box by having public
consultations. I also believe there are very serious concerns for child safety
as well as pedestrian safety in the areas that they’re proposing highways.”
Rathgar
is another area that will be heavily impacted by the current proposals. One
possibility the NTA are exploring is to change Rathgar Road into a one-way
system leading into town. Bernie Carolan from Thomas Collins Hair Studio on Rathgar Road is opposed to this idea
and described how it might damage businesses.
She
said: “If they go with the one-way system, then anybody that’s coming from the
opposite direction is adding I don’t know how much time to their journey to
come up through Ranelagh. You wouldn’t even bother coming up.
“People
crossing, it’s already bad. It could take me 10 minutes to get out onto Rathgar
Road. I don’t know how that’s going to fare if you’re coming across two bus
lanes and two bicycle lanes.
“It’s going to be impossible to cross the road and impossible to even drive to get here. So unless people are walking and walking on the right side of the road for us it’s going to be long-term damage,” she added.
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