More than 50 extra staff are to be employed by Dublin City Council to work on walking and cycling projects in the city.
The 55 jobs, which will include engineers, programme directors, communications staff and technical advisors will be funded for five years under a new Department of Transport and National Transport Authority sustainable mobility scheme.
Nationally, up to 218 additional staff will be employed by local authorities with an additional 30 proposed for regional cycling design offices, to support the delivery of almost 1,000km of improved walking and cycling infrastructure by 2025.
The city council plans to spend €7.6 million on walking and cycling infrastructure this year. The fund will cover the implementation of the Strand Road cycle path in Sandymount and the closure to through traffic of the main road outside the Technological University Dublin campus at Grangegorman to create a cycle- and pedestrian-only zone.
The largest tranche, €2.8 million, will be spent on preventing people from parking outside schools and on the provision of secure on-street parking for bicycles. Last year the council began installing pencil-like bollards outside primary schools to stop people parking close to the school gates, particularly on footpaths. The council hopes to extend the scheme to all schools.
It also plans to install 300 “bike bunkers” or on-street lockable bike storage units, particularly for use in residential areas where householders don’t have their own storage facilities for bicycles.
Some €400,000 will be spent on installing sensors at traffic lights so buttons don’t have to be touched to call the green man. Smaller sums of money will be used for the installation and upgrade of pedestrian crossings and cycle lanes across the city.
Green Party councillor Donna Cooney said the additional staff would ensure planned projects are brought to fruition.
“Cycling infrastructure is the biggest want and need by citizens of Dublin in requests received from the public to the Covid mobility team. Really excellent projects have been delayed in the city due to lack of staff.”
