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How can we design Cherrywood to be a healthy, vibrant district? – Ossian Smyth

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How can we diamond Cherrywood to be a healthy, vibrant district? – Ossian Smyth Ossian Smyth Green Party Councillor for Dún Laoghaire Menu HomeWell-nighme Priorities Latest News Press Get involved Donate Contact How can we diamond Cherrywood to be a healthy, vibrant district? A new town is stuff designed at Cherrywood to provide housing for 20,000 people and workplaces for increasingly than 10,000 employees, all clustered virtually the Luas line. Many of the homes are due to be completed by 2019 and in a time of severe housing shortage, this is very welcome. Cherrywood Timeline – equal to the main developer – Hines The developer unromantic in December for the first phase: the roads and drainage and  the parks. The way we plan the transport for our municipality districts is directly linked with the future  quality of life for the residents. So let’s try and get it right! In this post, I examine part of the road layout that the  developer has proposed to find the good and the bad. Please let me know in the comments at the end what you think so that I can take your views on workbench when I make a submission to the council. The mega-roundabout There are only a couple of existing roads in Cherrywood: an wangle road to the M50 motorway and a road joining the residential zone to the office blocks. Where these two roads meet is a vast roundabout which provides a soulless slum as the focal point of the district. Cherrywood roundabout Aerial view of existing roundabout at Cherrywood There is no way to navigate this roundabout on foot. By bicycle it is extremely hazardous. That’s considering it was designed with just one goal: to maximise the volume and speed of cars passing through. The well-spoken message to anyone using this junction is to unchangingly segregate to drive. So what has the developer planned to replace this roundabout?Squintbelow: Roundabout replacement It’s one of the largest signalised junctions imaginable with up to nine parallel vehicle lanes at one point. There is a partial bus lane in one direction that leads straight into a traffic island: Bus Lane roundabout There are pretty coloured velocipede lanes on all sides which will be unconfined so long as you are unchangingly turning left. Mmm, what happens if you want to go straight through the junction from the top right of this map to the marrow left? It looks like you would have to get off your velocipede and push through four separate crossings and three traffic islands. Roundabout with a velocipede The problem is that we have a major motorway exit serving South Dublin passing through a future residential district. If it goes superiority as whilom it will divide the district and encourage future residents to momentum for short local journeys.Volitionalapproaches The M50-N11 link needs to be physically separated from the local routes. It could be: veiled in a cut-and-cover trench, or elevated or left at the same level but with the surrounding streets elevated All of these approaches are in use in other countries so how do they look? Last year, I spent most of a week in the Netherlands studying how the Dutch get cyclists and pedestrians safely through junctions. I was accompanied by Irish road engineers while Dutch municipality officials  showed us what had worked and what hadn’t in the past decades. A bog standard Dutch roundabout A normal Dutch roundabout is encircled by a separate velocipede ring. At each roundabout exit, there is a wide crossing for bicycles and pedestrians. Cars must requite way to bikes and pedestrians when inward and exiting the roundabout and they really do! So, people on bikes don’t have to stop as they pass through a roundabout and they are separated from the circulating cars and trucks. Where they cross, the wile between the bikes and the cars allows for good eye contact between suburbanite and cyclist. Here’s a video to show how it works in practice: Sadly, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown CountySteering(with the NTA) attempted to build such a bicycle friendly roundabout in 2011 in Killiney and made an utter hames of it. The diamond was dangerous and inconsistent with the whilom standards. There was no local consultation and utterly inadequate promotion and liaison to other road users.Withouta few months of public opposition and at least one serious collision, the steering decided to switch it when to the way it was and tell cyclists to use the pavement instead. The total forfeit of this outing was well-nigh €500K. Three ways to get pedestrians and bikes through a major junction The vital roundabout whilom won’t do in a place where there is a very upper volume of vehicle traffic. So let’s squint at what does work. Elevate the velocipede lanes Eindhoven suspended bicycle roundabout Here’s a junction I visited in Eindhoven (home of PSV), tabbed the ‘Hovenring’.  Cyclists and pedestrians use a completely separate ring, floating whilom the road underneath and suspended by steel cables from a inside pole. It forfeit well-nigh €6m to construct. Given that the Cherrywood minutiae will forfeit increasingly than €2bn, this may not be an unreasonable amount. It is wondrous and trappy to see. 2. Elevate the major roads We could moreover raise the roads as they navigate the junction and indulge the bicycles and pedestrians to go underneath. I saw a good example of this in Houten near Utrecht. Aerial view of vehicle roundabout elevated over velocipede lanes in Houten, Netherlands In Ireland, our wits with underpasses is that they have been a well-constructed failure.  Frightening and dangerous to use, the two underpasses in Blackrock were eventually filled in. The underpasses in the Houten roundabout diamond are increasingly like going under a bridge: they have plenty of natural light and there are good sightlines from all around. The video below, shows you the view from a bike: 3. Physically separate the motorway wangle road from the local roads In this alternative, we would run the motorway wangle road under or over the local road at the junction. this could be washed-up using a ‘tight diamond interchange’ Tight diamond interchange Here’s a planned junction in Amsterdam with the major road separated from the minor road and the velocipede lanes. Proposed junction in Amsterdam This could be an wordplay for Cherrywood, with the motorway wangle road in a trench and the local roads at surface level. Twenty-five ways to get bicycles wideness a main road junction.  The Dutch town of Den Bosch has a ring road with 25 junctions, each of which may be safely crossed by bicycle. Here a video that shows that there are many variegated ways to do this – however none of them squint like the Cherrywood proposal !   One of the goals of the Cherrywood new town is that the town will be laid out in such a way that people will segregate to walk or trundling for most local journeys to the shop or to school. If we diamond the roads so that it makes increasingly sense to unchangingly momentum then, this goal won’t be achieved. The planning reference number for the Cherrywood road diamond scheme is DZ15A/0758 What do you think? How can we diamond Cherrywood to be a healthy, vibrant district? Tagged on: Cherrywood    Planning using Ossian January 3, 2016January 11, 2016 Latest News 22 Comments ← Dún Laoghaire Shopping Centre revamp New plans for Bulloch Harbour → 22 thoughts on “How can we diamond Cherrywood to be a healthy, vibrant district?” Eddie MartinJanuary 4, 2016 at 9:58 amPermalink Hi Ossian. Aesthetically elevation of the velocipede ring looks weightier but it would moreover expose cyclists and pedestrians to the full power of the Irish weather. It can be a pretty pessimistic and windy spot up there. Maybe well built short underpasses could work. ..the Dutch ones squint good…need to stave the negative / thoughtless potential of underpasses… I once lived and cycled in Milton Keynes and there it was a specimen of towers up as much speed and saying a short prayer surpassing heading lanugo an underpass! John MarksJanuary 6, 2016 at 12:19 amPermalink Are Cyclists unliable only to go one way virtually round well-nigh in Holland. They went both ways virtually the one in Killiney. At least only have to squint one way for cyclist. These roundabouts will not work in Ireland, hence the idea of junction controlled by traffic lights. Pedestrians and cyclists will have to wait at junctions OssianPost authorJanuary 6, 2016 at 8:32 amPermalinkTrundlinglanes virtually roundabouts are often two-way in the Netherlands. The trundling ring is well-nigh 4m separated from the car roundaboout, so there is space for an exiting car to come to a halt and indulge bikes and pedestrians to pass. The Killiney Towers diamond was one-way and marked with many signs telling cars to yield to bikes at exits. But it didn’t work- partly considering the trundling ring was immediateley next to the circulating cars . This video shows the wits from a cyclist’s perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDXVcKGnZcI CianJanuary 11, 2016 at 8:00 amPermalinkUnconfinedpost! Just one thing: What was tried at Killiney is not the equivalent of the bog standard Dutch roundabout shown — that might have worked a lot largest there. What was tried at Killiney is a style of roundabout diamond only used on much smaller roundabouts in the Netherlands. The Killiney project diamond plane exceeded the max dimensions unliable for such a diamond in the Irish Cycling Manual. The diamond in this Street View link is the closest diamond I’ve seen in the Netherlands which is tropical to Killiney towers: https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Utrecht,+Netherlands/@52.0513883,5.0806661,3a,55.4y,18.29h,84.56t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s88HFdEaWWy7QjnO5RluFow!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x47c66f4339d32d37:0xd6c8fc4c19af4ae9 — @ John Marks — LimerickMunicipalityand South Dublin councils are “testing” cycling and walking zebra crossing at roundabouts and in both cases I understand that these are working well. The issues at Killiney were lack of clarity and lack of space between the motoring and cycling circles . OssianPost authorJanuary 11, 2016 at 9:09 amPermalink Yes, Killiney Towers was not the equivalent of a bog standard roundabout. That’s why I said, “The diamond was dangerous and inconsistent with the whilom standards”. The Dutch made a journey from the place Ireland is at now, with cars ploughing through roundabouts, to their current norm where cars requite way inward and exiting roundabouts. We are going to need a lot of road safety messages and suburbanite education to make the same journey. John MarksJanuary 11, 2016 at 9:59 pmPermalink In my opinion if this type of round well-nigh is introduced there has to be only one lane for cars on the roundabout and a very low speed limit introduced . In the prune of the round well-nigh in the Netherlands both the cars and the cyclists in particular are moving very slowly and treating everyone with respect. This will not not happen here. Dermot HanneyJanuary 11, 2016 at 11:30 pmPermalink I don’t think I’ve overly seen such insight from a councillor in South Dublin before. Really interesting stuff. Excellent post. I would say you need to get those roads veiled and pronto. It’s hugely anti social, including significant noise and air (particularly diesel) pollution. It will sever the community. There’s far too many lanes planned. I’m flabbergasted at how many they think they need. Once you build that in, it’s very difficult to take out later. It will induce car demand and make it harder then for locals to move through the zone as a result. Overpasses and underpasses can work but usually are reserved for areas with less surrounding development, meaning longer run ups and run offs misogynist to reduce the angle. By sepulture the road, you can alimony crossing for locals at street level. The roundabout could plane then be retained in some form as it’s increasingly suitable to cycling with pedestrians and cyclists stuff worldly-wise to traverse through the centre of it. It does towards developers have jumped superiority and decided to develop plans virtually the car. The zone needs to have anchors like parks, low car roads and significant bicycle parking at the Luas so as to help to requite context on the need to develop a upper quality trundling and pedestrian links through the junction.Staveany schemes that talk of maintaining the spritz of vehicles. By current situation the traffic moves far too quickly though the zone and needs slowing down. The constructive way to do this is to reduce lanes and narrow them. Prioritising cyclists and pedestrians in junction diamond is the most significant step towards this. I really hope you’re successful in getting these guys to rethink their plans. Now is the time for action, retrofitting is very difficult to secure and is costly. You seem the man for the job though. Good luck! OssianPost authorJanuary 12, 2016 at 7:38 amPermalink Thanks for the encouragement, Dermot. Danielle ByrneJanuary 13, 2016 at 8:24 pmPermalink You r option 3 please. As per the scuttlebutt from Dermot whilom busy, fast, through roads can tear a polity untied and need to be separate from local traffic of all forms – foot, cycle, public and local cars and vans. Thanks for the interesting posts! OssianPost authorJanuary 13, 2016 at 10:06 pmPermalink thanks Danielle! Darragh RoganJanuary 18, 2016 at 11:08 amPermalinkStipulatewith your number 3 (A vehicle underpass for the main traffic) – it’s similar to what was built in Lucan on the N4: https://goo.gl/maps/3cCKN4NHqZ42 Keeping “locals” at grade doesn’t indulge anti-social policies to develop Patrick BrophyJanuary 18, 2016 at 9:58 pmPermalink I think number 2, “Elevate the major roads” is probably the weightier fit for Cherrywood. There is zaftig space on the tideway to the roundabout from each arm whereby there could be a dip on the edges for pedestrians and cyclists and a ramp for the main carriageway. As it stands, most of the entrances and exits to the roundabout have a whopping three lanes and plane a fourth slip lane which is gross over-provision for cars. This excessive space could hands be utilized for the installation of a two-way trundling track the unshortened way virtually and a pedestrian walkway. TheDiamondManual for Urban Roads and Streets (DMURS) commonly uses the phrase ‘desired lines’. If this were to wilt a double-decker roundabout as per suggestion number 2, an spare x-shaped diagonal crossing could pass underneath the carriageway. This would unbend a 2 way trundling track and pedestrian walkway to save time in crossing the unshortened circumference. This should help meet the requirements of the ‘desired lines’. The eye of the roundabout where this x-shaped crossing would be could include kiosks, benches, water features and other suavities for unstudied cyclists and pedestrians alike. Kiosks would be there in part to ward off any anti-social policies which traditionally materialized in less exposed underpasses. For motorists, the whilom would midpoint a roundabout with a unvarying 2 lanes on approach, exiting and on the very roundabout itself. The official proposal of a signalized crossing to replace the roundabout is extremely hazardous and inconvenient for cyclists and pedestrians. It’s somewhat unreceptive to the situation at Westmoreland Street where one has to wrestle their way wideness a whopping five lanes of traffic in parts. For cyclists who don’t want to be side-swiped, this ways dismounting from their velocipede and negotiating their way wideness a minimum of three traffic islands (if they intend on crossing only one of the 4 roads). Conversely, “A bog standard Dutch roundabout” would be a massive sacrifice for motorists as it would likely result in horrendous tailbacks propagating all the way to the M50. In short, too much provision for the car at the expense of cyclists and pedestrians leaves them marginalized and makes for soulless infrastructure. Too little provision for motorists in favor of cyclists and pedestrians would, in this specimen rationalization massive tailbacks possibly, stretching when to the M50. In conclusion, a perfect wastefulness needs to be achieved where ALL road users are happy and I strongly believe that number 2 is it. OssianPost authorJanuary 18, 2016 at 11:06 pmPermalink Thanks Darragh and Patrick for your comments I had a endangerment today to read the observations today from the National Transport Authority (NTA) and from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). They both stipulate that this solution is inadequate and suggest that the developer go when and redesign it. I have a meeting with the planners on 1st Feb and I will put this specimen on the agenda. BilciJanuary 19, 2016 at 12:14 pmPermalink May I suggest this link well-nigh Houten in the Netherlands? http://www.citylab.com/cityfixer/2015/06/a-case-study-in-bike-friendly-suburban-planning/396107/ SergioJanuary 19, 2016 at 9:43 pmPermalink Ossian, I find your blog really informative The Dun Laoghaire CountySteeringwebsite is really difficult to navigate, is there anything you can do well-nigh that? Thank you keeping people informed. OssianPost authorJanuary 19, 2016 at 10:30 pmPermalink Thanks Sergio. The steering website is nonflexible to navigate and yet there is a lot of good information subconscious there. I will ask the executive in tuition to sort it out. –Ossian Patrick BrophyAugust 24, 2016 at 11:16 pmPermalink A huge step forward as per the pursuit two links: 1. Permission has been granted for the road network equal to this link. 2. Coverage of the same can be seen at The Journal.Equalto the coverage in The Journal, construction work should uncork in the next few weeks. It should be interesting to see how traffic fares from the M50 when the new signal controlled junction is completed. The construction of the road network is earmarked for completion in 2017 which is somewhat optimistic for (circa) 5 kilometers. Either-way I squint forward to trying it out in its entirety. One of the roads (to be used by buses) is going to be laced with chicanes which I am very reserved about. Patrick BrophyJanuary 19, 2017 at 12:18 amPermalink I’m surprised that this hasn’t been in the Weekly Traffic News from the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown CountySteeringwebsite. However, for the past few weeks, it looks like construction on the new road system is once underway. Apparently, major road works are to uncork from the 30th of January equal to the road information systems in the vicinity.WithalValley Drive, there appears to be a lot of flattening of the once uneven mud patches which I imagine is for the purpose of the road widening that is to take place there. Next, towards the M50 on the right, you have an enclosed construction site where they seem to be restructuring the land at the junction where the mobile speed camera trammels points are occasionally stationed. Finally, there has been a lot increasingly information widow to the official Cherrywood Dublin Website where you can plane find undecorous prints of the town part-way that will be built on the R118. In any case, I am really looking forward to when the whole thing is complete. OssianPost authorJanuary 19, 2017 at 1:34 amPermalink Hi Patrick The roads now have permission and are stuff built. The major junction that I wrote well-nigh in this post has been redesigned to make it a little easier to navigate – but not by much. Overall, the district is still planned with large volume roads and junctions aiming to maximise throughput of vehicles rather than throughput of people. I am disappointed but you can’t get everything you want. The developer says he wants it to be like Ranelagh – but if he gets it wrong I think it will be flipside Adamstown. Thanks for drawing my sustentation to the new typhoon designs on the web site. None of these have planning permission yet, but the process is swift. Ossian Mairin O'SullivanFebruary 7, 2017 at 11:23 amPermalink Hi There, As a daily cyclist commuter, from Cherrywood to D2, I wouldn’t dare navigate the current roundabout and that is surpassing there is spare town centre traffic and residential units. At present, an easy stop gap solution is to make a trundling path with a contra spritz lane on the Cherrywood side without you navigate over the Loughlinstown fly-over. I once segregate this route, I would prefer for it to be legitimate lane but I have no other nomination at present as it is far too dangerous to struggle that roundabout. I am a cycling in town every day and once you get to Cherrywood is the most dangerous part of my journey, it is def. not child friendly, if you wanted to encourage kids to trundling to school! Also, I wanted to note that last night there was roadworks happening WELL without midnight , correct me if I’m wrong but that is not illegal? Scraping of metal diggers and beeping of reversing dumper trucks at that time is not appreciated by the current residents who need to live with this towers site over the next 4-5years. If you have any translating on weightier complaints procedure please do let me know. Kind Regards, Mairin O’Sullivan OssianPost authorFebruary 7, 2017 at 12:19 pmPermalink Hi Mairin You must be very fit with that kind of a round trip every day! Good for you. is this the location that you would like to see a contra-flow? Normal construction hours are Monday to Friday: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. I had a squint through the planning conditions tying to the grant of permission and I don’t see any waffly these hours. I have lodged a complaint with the planning enforcement section of the steering to request that the matter be inspected and the developer served with a formal warning. Thanks for letting me know Ossian Mairin O'SullivanFebruary 10, 2017 at 12:20 pmPermalink Hi Ossian, Thanks for your response. We logged the noise incident with the suite management visitor also. It seems the steering can do essential maintenance outside of the normal well-set construction hours. They are investigating if that was the case. Hopefully it was a once-off and won’t be a very regular occurrence. We are really looking forward to the new minutiae but just want to be sure that we can get some sleep over next 4 years! All the plans squint unconfined and we’re supportive of the minutiae efforts. For the contra-flow velocipede lane suggestions, that map you shared is increasingly or less right, could be a little shorter. As I said probably just a stop gap solution in the interim, just sharing ideas: https://goo.gl/maps/Z4rDghuqUUv There is moreover a pedestrian path that could be widened to indulge for cyclists that might help. But there are some older trees there that probably take preference. Some spare lighting there might make the pathway a little safer, it is very visionless and desolate withal the path. https://goo.gl/maps/aRH1FfTK3xu Thanks then for interest. Mairin Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email write will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment Name * Email * Website Archives September 2017 February 2017 December 2016 January 2016 November 2015 October 2015 August 2015 July 2015 April 2015 February 2015 December 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 January 2014 Meta Log in Copyright © 2018 Ossian Smyth. 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