A LEGAL loophole is preventing progress on providing cyclists in the capital with better facilities, according to the Dublin Cycling Campaign.
Mr Eamon Ryan, spokesman for the campaign, said Dublin Corporation had put its cycle lane projects for 1997 "on hold" because Section 35 of the 1994 Road Traffic Act, which would give them legal standing, had not yet been brought into effect.
The group is seeking a meeting, with the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, to stress the urgency of making regulations under the section. Without these having the force of law, the corporation is concerned that it could be open to public liability claims.
As a result, according to Mr Ryan, the corporations environmental traffic planning unit has dropped the cycling element of what was to be a joint bus and cycle lane linking Artane with Amiens Street. "We are very disappointed that progress on these facilities is being held up," he said.
"While Dublin Corporation, South Dublin County Council and the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) appear to have been trying to make some progress with designs for cycling facilities, it is our view that the Dun Laoghaire and Fingal councils have not attached a similar importance to the issue.
"In each council, we feel that greater staff resources are required," Mr Ryan said. "None of the cycling projects proposed for 1996 has gone ahead and there are no designs ready for approval in 1997. In fact, the DTO is having to retrieve budgets that were not used this year."
At the same time, several other projects which would have a negative effect were now going ahead. The Dundrum bypass was to have included cycle lanes, but these had been omitted, while a number of traffic calming projects were also creating unnecessary "pinch points" for cyclists.
Mr Ryan stressed that the Dublin Cycling Campaign would be "very keen" to support these calming projects - which involve, for example, installing road ramps to slow down speeding traffic "if only the position of cyclists" were taken into account in their designs". It was "unclear if all the traffic engineers within the various local authorities have fully taken on board the Dublin Transportation Initiative strategy with regard to cycling".
