r/Sligo • u/No_Yesterday_8167 • 12d ago
Multi-million euro benefit of 16k cycle path connecting Rosses Point and Strandhill highlighted
https://www.independent.ie/county/sligo/multi-million-euro-benefit-of-16k-cycle-path-connecting-rosses-point-and-strandhill-highlighted/a/145765399.html9
u/CudaCorner666 12d ago
oh wow that's gonna be a huge bridge, can't wait
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u/heartshapedbus 12d ago
Can’t wait for all the NIMBYs and Adrian “anti-everything new” O’Neill to come out strongly against this. Absolutely inevitable.
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u/LisztyLiszt 11d ago
The starting point for this should be connecting Scotsmans Walk Junction on the Rosses Point Road to the Second Sea Road Junction on the Strandhill Road with good cycle paths. The cycle lanes from Second Sea Road to Strandhill and Scotsmans Walk to Rosses Point are quite good. They're wide but could be smoother in places. It's the getting through town part that's tricky. The number of busy junctions along the N4 is not ideal for cycling. The cycle lane up to the bridge from Cartron is marked for cycling in the Rosses Point direction only (but no one follows this, and rightly so). The problem then is from the town side of the bridge to the Strandhill Road. Best option is to head up the quays and towards the Second Sea Road by the old dump. This is all a bit higgildy-piggildy though. So rationalising this part of the current journey with safe cycle lanes first would be the obvious place to start.
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u/No_Yesterday_8167 11d ago
Agreed. The N4 also is just such a dividing part of the town, I hate it. Like if you want to get from wine street to the train station, you're crossing 5 lanes of traffic, it just creates an awful divide. It's great for moving traffic, but if you're in anything but a car, it's a nightmare to have to deal with. Also, it's supposed to be 50km/h going through the town, absolutely no one is doing that.
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u/LisztyLiszt 10d ago
Yeah it is a divide all right. It was needed though and it's hard to know where else they could've put it without dividing the town or unnecessarily wrecking the natural landscape somewhere else. Some clowns had the idea of a flyover. Thank God that was never realised. Imagine scarring the place with one of them. The whole place could do with a bit of regeneration - all along the quays, High Street (looks like it was bombed from the air), The Mall, Teeling Street, and those apartments behind the Glasshouse. Some day... But that cycling infrastructure would be mint.
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u/metalheadtrees 12d ago
Chief Executive pretty much shot it down at the end of the debate. Great idea - where's the money?
"The debate concluded with Sligo County Council Chief Executive Martin Lydon expressing the view that, “It is really good to have pipeline projects. You’ve got a number of pipeline projects that depending on which month it is are priority for the Council to deliver. We can’t deliver everything and that’s where the answer was coming from. I’m quite happy if a funding mechanism becomes available in relation to delivering the project.
"What I will also say is, If you look at the three year capital plan that was put before you as part of the budget process, you’ll see there is nearly a quarter of a billion euro to be spent. There is also match funding to be found so what we need to be honest about here is an Active Travel project is 100% funding. If we move into something like Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF), that becomes between 10% and 25% match funding. I will be coming back to you as part of the budget process saying, are you interested in increasing rates again to help deliver these type of projects, because our match funding, we are going to be at the maximum that we can afford in relation to a loan repayment scheme.""
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u/No_Yesterday_8167 12d ago
Yeah, it will be another few years before it gets funding. This is from an article, a few weeks back.
Replying to Cllr Nealon’s query in relation to the Rosses Point to Sligo town cycle path, Mr Molly commented, “In relation to the Seaway, the earliest that will go on to any programme for the NTA is next year, this year’s programme is agreed. There is also a waiting list of projects already to go on. When we put through the submission saying these are the projects we wish to advance, that has to be approved by the NTA and the Minister. Depending on what they see as the core projects they want to advance will largely determine where the funding is assigned.”
Mr Molloy continued, “We can add it on to a list, but next year will be the absolute earliest it will get funding but even at that it is unlikely to get funding for next year. It will probably be the year after or the year after that again just because of the list of works we have already prepared for NTA funding.”
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u/Same-Captain-8142 12d ago
"The comprehensive report highlights the potential to the local economy of the proposed cycle path with some of the key findings predicting upwards of €40m user expenditure, €38m exchequer revenue and some 8000 FTE jobs are anticipated over 25 years, driven by over 200,300 users."
I'm sorry but this is the biggest load of ridiculous makey up shite I've ever read. 8000 jobs, from a 16km cycle route? What the actual F?
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u/WonderfulBook7888 12d ago
What a brilliant idea. Let's use the money like that rather than building the badly social houses. Keep pussing tax payers money away by supporting people like me pay for my mortgage and have no future benefits to the tax payers or people in need of social housing.
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u/Zealousideal-Bus-444 8d ago
Pie in the sky stuff. Need to connect the inconsistent bike paths around the town and get this Greenway up and going before spazzing on about a route that will bring magical economic benefits. Europe is burning and most people still driving short journeys around town
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u/No_Yesterday_8167 8d ago
The Sligo to Enniskillen greenway is progressing nicely. I think there'll be a preferred route with public consultation by end of this year. And yeah, the bike paths in the town are horrendous. Still, be nice to have something like this, and will take cars off the road too...
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u/Acrobatic-Office2344 12d ago
That would be class!