COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, December 09, 2013

QUESTION NO.3

QUESTION: Councillor W. Lavelle

To ask the Manager for a report on plans to extend 'green routes' in our County, including through parks?

REPLY:

The recently published NTA Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network includes a Greenway strategy that identifies a network of green routes throughout South Dublin County and linking into adjoining Counties.  These routes are intended for use by both cyclists and walkers.  The Council had input into the preparation of the document and sought to ensure that all proposed SDCC linked routes were included. Greenway routes generally align with landscape features and parks such as the Rivers Dodder, Poddle and Camac and Griffeen, the Grand Canal and major parks such as Tymon, Corkagh and Griffeen Valley, to form continuous linked routes.

The NTA funded a technical feasibility for the Dodder Valley Greenway in 2012 that was led by SDCC on behalf of three local authorities.  SDCC successfully bid for and secured National Cycle Network seed funding from the DoTT&S to prepare an economic feasibility of the Dodder Greenway from Dublin City Centre to Bohernabreena, in 2013, which is complete.  Work is ongoing on various sections of the Dodder Valley, funded by the NTA and will include construction of a new bridge at Firhouse in 2014.  The economic feasibility study identified potential for 1.5 million trips per annum on the Dodder route, and this has enabled a further bid for NCN funding, that was recently submitted with the support of the adjoining local authorities and the NTA, to the DoTT&S, in order to enable certain works to proceed.  These are works that would be less likely to be funded by the NTA in the short term, but are considered necessary to establish a viable, continuous leisure route that can be upgraded to full greenway standard as funding allows.