Design includes shared pedestrian/cycling crossings at Phoenix Park access points. No protection provided at left turn onto South Circular Road at Island Bridge. Dublin City Councils Active Travel Office is planning to use sub-standard cycle path widths on the new planned Chapelizod Road and Conyngham Road Active Travel Scheme, which is a primary route in the Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network plan.Insufficient width of cycle tracks is the main complaint from users of the councils flagship Clontarf to City Centre Bus and Cycle Route, but these complaints have fallen on deaf ears.The new route is planned to start just south of the Parkgate Street entrance to the Phoenix Park and run on the riverside of the road to just west of the entrance to the Kings Hall residential complex, east of ChapelizodVillage.It will also connect to the shared Commemorative Bridge at the Irish National War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge, which inturn connects with the short greenway along the River Liffey to the south side of ChapelizodVillage. The bridge is due to open in Q1 2027This new route was also originally planned when the Liffey Cycle Route was to be continuous, but that route has been left disjointed, with no plans to fill in the gaps to make cycling into the city centre safer and more attractive for residents along the Chapelizod Road and Conyngham Road project. IMAGE: In some cases, the project drawings show that the space dedicated to cycling has been reduced. Throughout the councils drawings for the project, the cycle path is shown as just 2.5 metres wide, but the national Cycle Design Manual states that the desirable minimum width for two-way cycle paths is 3 metres. This is for a two-way cycle path with a peak hour flow of less than 300 cycles, while the desirable minimum width increases to 4 metres above that threshold. The cycle path is also shown as narrower at certain points, including bus stops, where this type of narrowing is associated with increased conflict with bus users.The draft project drawings show that most of the route has a buffer between the cycle path and the carragway that is wider than required under national standards. Footpaths on the Chapelizod Road, which host painted cycle tracks, are shown as being turned into footpath space, even on the park side of the road, and some sections of bus lane are reduced or removed.To illustrate how much a 2.5 metre width is unsuitable for a two-way cycle path on a primary route, new Dutch standards outline that The minimum width needed by two cyclists to cycle side by side safely and comfortably, regardless of intensity. This minimum width is set at 230 centimetres. Dutch authorities say the width is regardless of intensity due to the increased use of cargo bicycles and e-bicycles, factors also found in Dublin. But even if Irish standards are applied, the cycle paths width is still substandard.Even on a section of the planned route where a green buffer of nearly 3 metres is provided, the cycle path width remains at just 2.5 metres.IMAGE: A drawing showing the Upper Glen Road access point to the Phoenix Park, with a 2.8-metre-wide green buffer on the cycle path side.Public consultation on the scheme also shows that access to the Phoenix Park vehicular access points will be via shared tocan crossings, and no provision is being made for legal two-way access to the park. IMAGE: A drawing showing the Khyber Road access point of the Phoenix Park.The project information puts the construction start as Q2/Q3 2026, which would make it faster than any other Dublin City Council project.At the junction with the South Circular Road at Island Bridge, the project also includes narrow, single-directional cycle tracks, which are below standard despite ample space in the current carriageway to provide wider cycle paths north of the roads narrowing at the bridge. IMAGE: A drawing showing the junction with the South Circular Road at Island Bridge. Within the project area, the cycle tracks on the South Circular Road are also poorly linked to the new two-way cycle paths. The northbound cycle track shows a convoluted bend where it links to the two-way path.The link from the two-way cycle path to the southbound cycle track has no protection, so people cycling cannot safely join the South Circular Road while motorists are making the same turning movement. A lack of protection at junction turns is associated with people cycling being crushed under trucks.There is no existing space constraint that blocks the provision of a protected turn; instead, the drawing shows the southbound start of the cycle track as an unprotected cycle lane. IMAGE: A close-up of a drawing of the junction with the South Circular Road at Island Bridge. The tie-in to the Liffey Cycle Route at Parkgate Street is also left to a future Phoenix Park cycle route that the council is working on with the OPW, which manages the park. IMAGE: The project includes using an existing shared crossing to get to the park entrance at Parkgate Street or to continue to the city centre on the currently disjoined Liffey Cycle Route. At the western end of the project, the two-way cycle path ends east of Main Street in Chapelizod: IMAGE: While the project page says the route ends at Main Street in Chapelizod, the drawings show that it falls significantly short of it. The public consultation page for the project, which includes the full project drawings, can be found at engage.dublincity.ie. A questionnaire can be filled out on that page, or submissions can be made to Activetraveloffice@dublincity.ie with the subject line Chapelizod Road and Conyngham Road Active Travel Scheme.There will also be two public information events as follows: the first on Monday, March 2nd, between 4-6.45pm at 139th Chapelizod Scout Hall, D20 YV26, and the second on Tuesday, March 10th, between 4-7pm at the Ashling Hotel, D08 P38. Physical copies of the design drawings will be available to view during the consultation period at Ballyfermot Community Civic Centre, D10 T042.