COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM / TEMPLEOGUE / FIRHOUSE / BOHERNABREENA AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

MOTION NO. 14

MOTION: Councillor J. Sinnott

This Committee requests SDCC undertake additional road safety measures at Greenhills Educate Together School as a priority. The road outside the school is part of the Wellington Lane Scheme and the school are also part of Safe Routes to School initiative. This request is based upon the following: It is understood that the proposed date for the works as part of the Wellington Lane Scheme is not until 2025. There are no effective traffic calming measures on the road at the school bar ineffective bus cushions. There is no indication that this is a school zone and no measures in place to slow traffic. It is a long, straight stretch of road. As the permanent works are not going to be completed for a significant amount of time, it is essential that some sort of safety works are completed in the meantime.

REPORT:

The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Programme was developed in partnership by the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Green-Schools, as a response to the need to support schools to increase walking and cycling to school. Details of the SRTS Programme can be found online at this website; Safe Routes to School - Green-Schools (greenschoolsireland.org)

The current SRTS Programme was launched in March 2021 and was open to all schools in Ireland to apply for active travel funding and delivery. Funding is provided annually by the NTA as part of the overall annual allocation to SDCC. Nationally, the programme received expressions of interest from 932 schools, almost one in four schools in the state.

In order to accelerate delivery of the SRTS works for Riverview Educate Together National School on Limekiln Road, the school was incorporated into the Wellington Lane Cycle scheme. This enabled the schools team from An Taisce to liaise with the school to develop and agree a draft delivery plan. The recommendations from the plan were incorporated into the Wellington Lane scheme (Limekiln Road element).

The Wellington Lane scheme received Part 8 Approval at the December 2022 Full Council Meeting. As part of that approval, amendments to the Part 8 were approved by Councillors, requiring that amended trial designs be put in place initially on Rossmore and Whitehall Road. The Rossmore trial element is substantially complete and we anticipate that the Whitehall Road trial will commence construction in Q3 2024. Progress on the detailed design of the rest of the Wellington Lane scheme has been progressing and it is planned that the scheme will be delivered on a phased basis from 2025, the delivery of the works will be aligned with the available resources and funding.

Additionally, through liaison with the school and other stakeholders, SDCC identified a key route to Riverview Educate Together (and other schools) known as the "Bike Bus" route. SDCC accelerated the delivery of a route to provide a safer route for school children and others along a route from Whitehall Road West, Limekiln Lane, Fernhill Road, Mountdown Park to Limekiln Road. Details of the scheme are available online; Limekiln and Whitehall Road West Cycle Scheme | South Dublin County Council's Online Consultation Portal (sdublincoco.ie) That scheme is under construction at present and it is anticipated that it will be completed this summer.

The Limekiln Road is an existing Bus Route. Therefore the bus cushions are in place to calm traffic speeds.  This method of traffic calming is in line with accepted traffic calming policy and best practice guidance. It is not proposed to undertake additional traffic calming at this location at this time.