In most cases, the council has installed four stop signs and four shared path signs at each junction. Mayo County Council has said that a nearly 180,000 plan to install new gates and traffic signs along the Great Western Greenway between Westport and Achill has increased in cost to just under 200,000.The spending was revealed in a Freedom of Information request to the council after the local authority had started installing the gates last year, nearly 15 years after the greenway first opened. The installation of gates was still underway earlier this year when IrishCycle.com visited the route to assess the placement of the chicanes gates.The fixed barriers, which look like old gates, are called chicanes or staggered gates. The gates have also been used on other greenways, but have been retrofitted to the Mayo greenway, even though national guidance states that bollards with a minimum spacing of 1.5m are the optimum solution for access controls to active travel routes.Previously, the junctions along the Great Western Greenway mainly included bollards, while not all might have met the spacing requirements, a decision was made to replace bollards with a less-than-optimum solution. While these types of gates are often used to signify major road crossings on greenways, IrishCycle.com has found that they have been installed at minor road junctions and even at some driveways, which runs counter to national guidance. The gates were also installed in locations where people cycling around a corner have no visibility of the gate because of a high stone wall.The spending includes four (4) traffic sign poles with eight (8) road signs at nearly every junction and driveway where the treatment was applied. Lower-level signs, such as those in the bollards previously along the greenway in recent years were recognised as legal signs in Ireland. In another case, the gates and signs have been added at the point where the greenway merges not with any road or driveway, but with a footpath west of Newport village (see image below) families and others often continue along the footpath as it appears to be part of the greenway, but the route has yet to be developed through the village. At this point and others along the route outside Newport, greenway users are instructed by expensive signs to stop for no apparent reason. International experience indicates that repeatedly placing safety-critical signs in areas with no danger risks desensitises people to the warning and the signs become background noise, reducing awareness of critical warnings where they are needed. This is why some EU countries only use stop signs where theres a safety-critical need, opting for yield signs or markings in most cases. This website asked the council to confirm whether the 179,798.13 was the full cost of installing the gates and signs at 33 junctions and driveways, or whether there had been any additional costs since the figure was released to this website last year.A spokeperson for the council today said: Mayo County Council can confirm that the package of works at the 33 identified junction locations under the Great Western Greenway Asset Protection and Renewal Scheme had an original tendered cost of 179,798.13, which increased by 18,279.26 to a final cost of 198,077.39 following the identification on site of additional elements required to complete the works, including extra poles and signage, primer to all gates and the installation of gate stops.IMAGE: Gates and stop signs where the greenway merges with a footpath at the edge of Newport village. The footpath runs between the greenway and the road at the point shown in the foreground of the above image.IrishCycle.com also asked whether there are extra costs for new gates along the ongoing Newport to Derrada road upgrade works, and whether the council could explain why the gates were installed at several driveways when national guidelines do not seem to support such interventions at private access points.A Mayo County Council spokesperson said: The staggered gates were installed at locations where the Council had identified a risk to Greenway users from vehicular movements due to restricted sightlines at these crossing points, and were provided as a necessary safety measure to reduce that risk. These works formed part of the wider AchillWestport Greenway upgrade, which also included resurfacing and relining.The council also confirmed that the Newport to Derrada Road Project is a separate scheme, which is funded and delivered independently. That means any gates installed on that project will be above the 200,000 price tag. IMAGES: A T-junction where the greenway joins a cul-de-sac with a single house and farm at the end.National guidance in the Access Control of Active Travel Facilities Advice Note outlines that: Bollards with a minimum spacing of 1.5m are the optimum solution where access control is required. All other forms of access control (gates, barriers etc.) require approval by the Approving Authority before being incorporated into scheme designs.While the advice for all active travel routes, including urban routes, is also referred to in the latest rural guidelines. IMAGES: A gate at a driveway near the start of the greenway in Westport and gates at minor side roads along the route.Maintaining motion is clearly important for efficient cycling, therefore any access control should be designed to maintain the free flow of cyclists through obstructions. On the approach to points of interaction, it is preferable to adjust the horizontal alignment by providing deflection and curves rather than providing chicanes or staggered gates. This will allow cycle users to be fully aware of the interaction point and the need to adjust speed accordingly to give way to pedestrians or motor traffic if required, the guidance outlines. It continues, Where this is not possible, and with the approval of the Approving Authority, access gates may beused in a manner that reduces speeds approaching the interaction point. For example, where a Greenway meets a road, staggered gates may be considered, however these should be sufficiently far apart (5.0m minimum) to allow all cyclists to negotiate without having to dismount.