Painted cycle lanes running beside perpendicular parking bays to be added in future. Once planned project is finished, half of area would only fit sub-standard lanes. Raised zebra crossings used elsewhere, but city council to leave pedestrians to cross unaided. Revised plan shows trees to be cut down for new greening area. Cost not known; likely cost range known but not given.Dublin City Council officials have doubled down on a plan to reconfigure Golden Lane in Dublin City Centre, which would remove possible space to include segregated cycling provision on the busy traffic route, which is a proposed primary cycle route in the Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network Plan.The plan is described as a springboard scheme focused on greening and water management aimed at reducing peak flow into the citys combined wastewater system to avoid discharge into the River Liffey. It will include major subsurface treatments, making it harder to reconfigure the road layout in future years without disrupting the costly water management features.It will include removing existing trees and hard surfaces at the corner of Golden Lane and Stephen Street Upper and replacing them with a large sustainable drainage system (SUDs) area, with smaller similar areas on Whitefriar Street, which will just remove hard surfaces. The overall plan was welcomed by councillors at the South East Area committee meeting on Monday. But Cllr Hazel Chu (Green Party) questioned the lack of zebra crossings and cycling provision, while Cllr Mannix Flynn (independent) said that zebra crossings were desperately needed, even before the project started, he suggested.IMAGE: Overview of the project drawings (close-up images are below).Roy OConnor, a senior engineer with the Protection of Water Bodies Division of Dublin City Council, said that the project team wanted to make the area as safe and attractive to all. But the project drawings show no provision for cycling, and the pedestrian crossing point provided in the drawings is just dropped kerbs with no raised or marked crossings, such as a zebra crossing.The project area includes a school and is generally an area of high pedestrian flow right beside the core city centre. The approach of not providing formal crossings in such an area contrasts strongly with other councils who are providing raised zebra crossings around schools.For example, Dn Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has a project out to public consultation that plans to include three zebra crossings on roads and four raised crossings at access points in and around a single school. IMAGE: A close-up of part of the Golden Lane section of the drawings as presented to councillors. The image and other images show no planned formal pedestrian crossings, only crossing points with dipped kerbs. OConnor mentioned that one of the crossings outside the school may get zebra markings. When he was later asked about why zebra crossings were not included on the drawings, he just referred to the councils active travel team suggesting locations for crossings. Cllr Chu, like other councillors, welcomed the greening, but questioned why the drawings show less potential space for cycling, especially given that its a really important east-west link and primary route in the National Transport Authoritys Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network Plan. She said: Looking at the drawings, theres just less cycling space in an area that has so little cycling infrastructure and space.On Monday, OConnor said: I appreciate that this is an east-west primary cycle orbital route. In a previous presentation given by the Golden Lane project team earlier this year, the street was described as being just a secondary cycle route.In the GDA Cycle Network Plan, the category of Primary Orbital on this project (highlighted on the network map below in yellow) is the same designation as given to routes such as the quays, Dame Street/Pearse Street and OConnell Street.The councils support for the GDA Cycle Network Plan is interwoven into the councils own city development plan, which is supposed to be the councils primary planning document. But when other objectives get in the way, poor or future promises of solutions are often stated. IMAGE: An extract from the Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network Plan. But OConnor confirmed that the council is only planning painted cycle lanes on Golden Lane, and only at an unspecified time in the future once this greening project is finished. So the widths of the carriageway there have been specifically designed to accommodate the active travel [departments] requests. What isnt in this project but is intended to follow along afterwards is a segregated cycle lane, sorry, a mandatory cycle lane, apologies, he said.IMAGE: A close-up of part of the Golden Lane section of the drawings as presented to councillors. OConnor said: So, it is road marking [painted lines] based. Its what active travel have asked for, and we have provided that in the widths [of the remaining carriageway].The street includes perpendicular parking bays, which international guidance highly recommends against having inside cycle lanes. The carriageway widths shown in the project drawings also range from around 10 metres at one end of the project on Golden Lane to 8.95 metres, and as low as 8.4 metres at the core city centre end of the street. The lower end would not be sufficient to include modern standard cycle lanes and two-way traffic lanes. He said it would be revised when the councils active travel team revisits the whole east-west corridor. The route is not included in any priority list, and the active travel team was heavily criticised by councillors recently after it gave a 30-year timeframe for its active travel network; a number of councillors indicated that they might be dead before it is finished.Cost not known, likely cost range known but not givenEarlier in the presentation, OConnor said that they had a budget set aside for the project, but when asked by Cllr Kourtney Kenny (Sinn Fin) what the project would cost, he did not have a figure or even an estimate. Cllr Kenny said that they did not want to see a repeat of the Tea Rooms controversy. The Merrion Square park tea rooms were tendered with a value of 4.6 million in 2022, but as Dublin Inquirer reported the budget had shot up to 7.5 million by April of this year.OConnor said: The truth is we dont know what this is going to cost, and the fluctuations in costs coming in from our various tenders, its I dont want to suggest figures without, you know, I dont know what the costs are going to be, but within reason we have an idea that we have a budget to cover a reasonable-sized investment in this area, notwithstanding any potential commercial sensitivities.On cost, he continued: Well have to see what the tender process brings about, but people have an understanding and expectation of what that range might be, and we believe were in a good place to cover that if a reasonable [tender] submission comes in to us.OConnor also apologised for not presenting to councillors before the project went to Part 8 public consultation, which is protocol in Dublin City, but said the project is following the legal framework.The Golden Lane Part 8 Planning scheme is expected to be progressed to be voted on by the full city council early next year. IMAGE: A close-up of the Whitefriar Street section of the drawings as presented to councillors.