Dublin City Councils 2.6km Gracefield Road to Vernon Avenue Active Travel project is now expected to go to construction in late Q2 to early Q3 this year.The route will link Artane and part of the Howth Road to St Annes Park and Clontarf, connecting residential areas to schools, parks, and the coast. Or almost to the coast, as a final section in Cloftarf is expected to be covered by a separate public realm project at the south end of Vernon Avenue. Cllr Donna Cooney (Green Party) said: Im pleased after my request for an update to hear that progress has been made and construction of this long-awaited project will start this Summer. It will be another important part of the Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network, as it will connect with the S2S and C2CC cycleways.The project includes two new school zones, and it is a busy route for students attending eight schools along the route, she said.Cllr Cooney added: New pedestrian crossings will also be added, cycle route extensions along some connecting side roads, removing dangerous wide radius and slipways to make the route safer, and new continuous pavements along the route.In an email update to Cllr Cooney, an official from Dublin City Councils active travel office said: The design team are currently finalising the tender documents and designs for the Gracefield Road to Vernon Avenue Scheme. It is proposed to upload the design drawings online to the website in the coming weeks, following NTA approval to go to tender.Following NTA approval, it is anticipated that construction will start late Q2 to early Q3 this year, the official said.The official added: The design proposal is a one-way cycletrack on each side of the road along Gracefield Road and a two-way cycletrack on the western side of the road along Brookwood Avenue, Sybil Hill Road and Vernon Avenue.Two-way cycle path is more continuous As covered last year, Dublin City Council made a change to the plans for the Gracefield Road to Vernon Avenue Active Travel scheme so that people cycling will not have to switch from a unidirectional cycle track to a two-way cycle track and back again.There is now expected to be a short section of unidirectional cycle tracks (light blue in the drawing below) from the start of the project beside the Artane roundabout for around 170 metres to the junction between Gracefield Road / Brookwood Avenue.The two-way cycle path (shown in dark below) is planned as a continuous route, approximately 2.2km in length. This cycle path will run between the junction of Gracefield Road and Brookwood Avenue to Vernon Avenue, just south of its junction with Seafield Road.In an update on the projects webpage, the council said: Following on from site investigations which took place in Q1 2025, the design team has re-examined the entire Gracefield Road to Vernon Avenue route, taking into consideration the concerns from all key stakeholders, including the community and Elected Members.This included extensive engagement with key internal departments. Arising from this process, the emerging preferred option is a two-way cycle track on the western side for the greater extent of the route. The project team are currently working on finalising the design prior to publishing it online, the council said.IMAGE: Map of the extent of the planned two-way path drawn by IrishCycle.com based on information provided by Dublin City Council to councillors.