New Doughiska cycle lane debuts despite unsolved concerns

The newly opened Doughiska cycle lane was welcomed by local councillors as an alternative mode of transport. However, the problem of connectivity remains unsolved.

“[The cyclists] are going nowhere,” said Noel Larkin, a Galway City East councillor, adding that people must be able to follow the new lane through to the city’s wider cycle network. 

“If you’re going to put a bicycle lane there, the cycle lane has to go … all the way out to Salthill,” he said.

The Doughiska Road South Cycle Network was opened in Late February with an aim to provide an “enhanced, safer experience for pedestrians and cyclists,” according to the Council. 

The cycle lane connects Old Dublin Road with the Coast Road in the south. However, the lane ends at the junction between Old Dublin Road, Doughiska Road and the railway crossing near Coast Road.

“Somebody takes a bicycle home, cycles a couple of hundreds of metres and then there is no more bicycle lane. To me that doesn’t make sense,” Cllr Larkin said.

“There has to be a full system.” 

Alan Curran, a fellow Galway City East councillor, said the cycle lane’s design was “brilliant”.

He commended the fact that the lane was segregated from the main road, which, according to him should be applied to other cycle lanes citywide due to safety concerns.

However, he pointed out that the lane is often impassable to cyclists.

“A lot of the [illegal] parking still takes place in this cycle lane.”

The Doughiska cycle lane is funded by the Urban Regeneration Development Fund and the National Transport Authority.

It is part of the City Council’s Transport Strategy, which aims to reduce Galway’s traffic congestion and over-reliance on private vehicles.