John O'Dowd's Stormont department is pretending that it's spending £2.6m on a cycle lane, but most of that money is funding a road for cars and lorries - and the department is refusing to say if this has been happening more widely.
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Where’s the active travel demand between these 2 ”settlements”?
PRIMARILY: demand is IN the settlements, from home to school, shop, post office, commuinity/sport centre. However, that involves reallocting road space away from cars.
This hard-shoulder conversion doesn't link anyone to anything.
We might be being a bit hard on them. Linking Ballykelly to Greysteel is a worthy goal. This scheme does part of that, I don't know what the rest is like. But they certainly should provide a decent justification for it, especially when there is so much to do elsewhere at surely much lower cost.
It is worthy but:
• It doesn’t link them.
• there are no active travel links from either settlement to get to this.
• there is no active travel provision in each settlement
• it neither supports nor encourages AT
• does it follow DFI AT guidelines?
Encouraging to see Sam peaking under the bonnet at #deptInfra.
Further questions:
• Where was the demand for this?
• Was a cycle count conducted along that Rd?
• Was a pedestrian count conducted along this Rd?
• Who was consulted?
• Who really benefits?
#clooneyRd
I wonder if there is any scope for some kind of Judicial Review of the long list of decisions the Department has made to disingenuously label road works as 'Active Travel' schemes? @cycul.bsky.social @sustrans.bsky.social
This is what DeptInfra does. They clearly have no interest in Active Travel, & nevr hav. They freely acknowledge their own failure progressing it after 10yrs of 'trying'. Shame on John O'Dowd for not holding them to account re this dishonesty. He's turning out to be a textbook 'Minister for Roads'👎
Comments
Potholes are dangerous and road infrastructure in the North is falling so far behind that it is an embarrassment to drive on the roads.
PRIMARILY: demand is IN the settlements, from home to school, shop, post office, commuinity/sport centre. However, that involves reallocting road space away from cars.
This hard-shoulder conversion doesn't link anyone to anything.
• It doesn’t link them.
• there are no active travel links from either settlement to get to this.
• there is no active travel provision in each settlement
• it neither supports nor encourages AT
• does it follow DFI AT guidelines?
Further questions:
• Where was the demand for this?
• Was a cycle count conducted along that Rd?
• Was a pedestrian count conducted along this Rd?
• Who was consulted?
• Who really benefits?
#clooneyRd
Successive DFI Ministers have failed to do this. DFI compelled to invest in active travel & they fail.
J O’Dowd choosing to worsen public transport services by packing bus lanes with empty taxis
05/03/2024
"240m of shared footway on the four legs of the O’Neill Road roundabout and installation of four toucan crossings … as well as resurfacing of the roundabout"
https://infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/news/odowd-announces-ps800000-active-travel-scheme-oneill-road-newtownabbey
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11/07/2022
"extends a distance of approximately 2.4kms along the A29 Ring Road, Coleraine … will also include resurfacing of the carriageway.
https://infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/news/odowd-announces-ps175-million-active-travel-scheme-a29-ring-road-coleraine
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24/09/2024
"provision of a shared footway/cycleway for a distance of approximately 500 metres … also includes resurfacing of the carriageway"
https://infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/news/odowd-announces-ps800000-active-travel-scheme-a29-ring-road-coleraine
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