The Salthill Cycleway pilot scheme is “a victory for everyone in the city”, but it has to be made work, and become the start of a new approach to transport in the city, one that will reduce, not increase, the city’s already chronic traffic congestion.
This is the redaction of various city councillors following the vote at Monday’s Galway City Council meeting, where a motion to implement a pilot cycle lane along the prom in Salthill, was passed by 17 votes to one. The vote is a victory for The Galway Cycling Campaign and the Galway Urban Greenway Alliance which have long campaigned for such cycling infrastructure.
The cycle lane will involve two lanes (one for inbound cyclists, the other for those heading out of Salthill ), running from Grattan Road to Blackrock, and located on the coastal side of the road. This is to reduce the impact on parking and improve safety since there are no junctions on the coastal side. The road will become a one-way cycle path to where the R336 meets the R337.
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The vote has been widely welcomed. Minister for State at the Department of Transport, Hildegarde Naughton, said the Salthill Cycleway will “will be of huge benefit to the people of Galway” and “transform Salthill for the better”.
Social Democrats Galway City East councillor, Owen Hanley, said the vote was “a victory for everyone in the city” as “currently, it is not safe to cycle in Galway.”
While Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has confirmed that funding will be provided to the council for the trial cycleway, Cllr Hanley said he must also “urgently introduce” legislation to strengthen the ability of local authorities to deliver trial cycling infrastructure without threat of legal challenge.
From defeat to victory
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Monday’s vote comes more than a year after previous attempts to deliver a cycling lane in Salthill.
In June 2020, the council’s mobility team presented plans to councillors, but this sought a single bike lane on each side of the road. There were concerns around how this would impact on parking and deliveries, and came at a time when much of the parking in Salthill was removed for Covid reasons. It was defeated by 12 votes to five.
For the Green Party’s Galway City West councillor, Niall Murphy, there has been a noticeable change in attitudes towards cycling and the environment in the past 12 months, and this explains Monday’s vote as much as the different design of the new trail cycleway.
“Last time round councillors were being contacted by cycling campaigns and individuals who saw greater cycling infrastructure as part of our future,” he said. “Now we are getting contacted by a much wider group including parent-teacher associations and groups like Doctors For The Environment. They are motivated by recent reports on the severity of the climate crises and also by the recognition of the huge health benefits of active travel.”
Traffic gridlock
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Fine Gael Galway City West councillor, Clodagh Higgins, who has been calling for such a cycleway, says it will benefit health, business, and the environment.
“It will make a positive contribution to the health of people in the area,” she said, “and increase the overall amenity value of the area, which will deliver benefits to local businesses. We have given the council a blank canvas so the responsibility rests with it to make this work for cyclists, pedestrians, motorists, residents, and businesses.”
Minister Naughton concurs. “Cycling is the most sustainable mode of transportation for short and medium-distance trips in urban cities,” she said. “The Salthill Cycleway will give many more people the opportunity to try it for themselves in a much safer way.”
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However, Cllr Higgins warned that traffic gridlock and congestion are now “at crisis point” in the city, and that measures like the Salthill Cycleway are the first step towards addressing this. She said such steps are necessary as “if we don’t make positive changes then everyone suffers”.
Cllr Hanley said the cycleway must represent the start of the future of transport options in the city. “As we emerge from the pandemic, we must not go back to our traffic-choked streets and lack of cycling amenities,” he said. “There can be a positive legacy to the past two years if we make our communities better, and safer, places to live in.”
