Dedicated Bus Lane Outbound on R338 Dublin Road

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4 responses to “Dedicated Bus Lane Outbound on R338 Dublin Road”

1. 

   oonidh

   November 22, 2007

   I have reviewed the plans for the Outbound Bus Lane on the R338 Dublin Road. It will run from the Moneenageisha Cross (Ffrench Roundabout) to the Renmore Road Signalised junction (traffic lights outside Duggan’s Shop) on the Outbound Carriageway

   First the Bus Lane must be welcomed by the Galway Cycling Campaign. I could not find any major issues with it, but I would advise others to review the plans in the Planning Section of the Galway City Council. The one worry I had before reviewing was the width of the Inbound Carriageway width on this section of road would be very narrow (From the Renmore Road signalised junction to the Moneenageisha Cross (Ffrench Roundabout) i.e. the Huntsman Roundabout).
   My fear was that we would have a repeat of the narrowing of the carriageway that currently exists from the Renmore Road signalised junction to the GMIT (Skerrit Roundabout) on the Outbound Carriageway when the Bus Lane was installed on this section. Thankfully after reviewing they have taken this into account for this scheme.

   Rough Details of the Scheme
   800m Length of the Bus Lane. It is to be a 24h 7 day a week Bus Lane
   3.5m Wide Outbound Bus Lane
   3.25m Wide Outbound Carriageway
   4.25m Wide Inbound Carriageway
   Footpaths: 1.8m to 2.0m (1.5m at pinch points)

   Road is Subject to 50km/h Speed Limit

   Design is broken up into 3 Sections.
   Section 1: Moneenageisha Cross (Ffrench Roundabout) to the Woodlands Center
   Section 2: Woodlands Center to Renmore Park Junction
   Section 3: Renmore Park Junction to the Renmore Road traffic lights junction

   Left Turning Junctions on the Bus Lane.
   Entrance to Wellpark and Entrance to Days Hotel. The Bus Lane will terminate 40m before these junctions. Similar to the current inbound bus lane as it approaches the junction at Dawn Dairies and the Renmore Road Junction.

   Renmore Park Junction
   Hard Islands to be installed at this junction.
   A Pre Bus Signaling is to be installed in the future at this junction. (Begins just after Days Hotel entrance) Due to the Hard Central Island, the Bus Lane will be expanded 4.25m so Cyclists can undertake the bus if it is stopped at this junction.
   (4.25m lane width is because Bus Lane will physically segregated on both sides). Since traffic lights will not be installed at this Pre Bus Signaling when this scheme will be built the bus will have to merge with the Outbound traffic flow when a break in the traffic occurs. In the future when the Pre Bus Signaling system is installed the bus will
   be able to jump the Outbound traffic Q at this junction.
   See the diagram at the following link
   http://www.ccc.govt.nz/BusPriority/Measures/PreSignals.asp

   A 1.5m wide strip to run from end of Bus Lane to ASL – NOT A CYCLELANE. It will be marked with hard shoulder markings. A broken yellow Line. At this Pre Bus Signaling junction cyclists will be able to undertake a Bus. Red Rubber Delineators will allow cyclists legally bypass this priority junction at the end of the bus lane. This will stop cyclists getting side swiped as Buses merge with the regular traffic
   flow. This is hard to describe without looking at the design map.

   Renmore Road signalised junction
   ASL (Advance Stop Lines) to be installed. 5m in length

   Design Standards Used
   Dept of Transport Traffic and Management Guidelines
   DTO’s Cycle Facilities Guidelines
   UK Dept of Transport Cycle Friendly Infrastructure Manual

   Summary
   Overall the proposed design is very positive for cyclists in my view and must be welcomed. They have actually thought of cyclists in relation to this scheme and I could not see any major issues we could have with the proposed scheme! No Cycle Paths. Cyclists will be using the Bus Lane and have priority at the Pre Signaling Junction and the Inbound Carriageway will be 4.25m wide and this section of road cyclists will be going downhill.

   One Issue that we could raise and would be of benefit to cyclists in terms of safety would be the removal of the Pedestrian Guardrails to be installed at the Renmore Park signalised junction.

2. 

   Stan

   November 22, 2007

   Thanks for that Oisín — very informative, and mostly good news by the sound of it.

3. 

   oonidh

   November 22, 2007

   Thanks Stan. Would like to hear from others who have analysed the plans and documents. Another set of eyes will probably pick up some details I have missed. Planning Section in the City Council is where the plans are available to view.

4. 

   oonidh

   January 23, 2008

   Cormac, Shane and myself wrote the following submission to the City Council.

   #####################################################################

   January 22, 2008
   Secretary Galway Cycling Campaign

   FAO
   Ciarán Hayes,
   Director of Services,
   Transportation & Infrastructure,

   Re: Dedicated Bus Lane Outbound on R338 Dublin Road

   A Chara,

   On behalf of the Committee,

   It is apparent to the Galway Cycling Campaign that the designers have gone to considerable length in attempting to cater for the needs of cyclists in this scheme.

   We welcome the use of a wide inbound lane from the Renmore Road signalised junction to Moneenageisha Cross and welcome the thought that has obviously gone into the road design outside Days Hotel.

   We would like to make the following observations

   Bus Lane Width:
   Bus Lane Width Uphill is to be 3.5 meters. We have a concern that cyclists will be climbing uphill for a large part of the Bus lane. As cyclists will be traveling more slowly, there exists potential for conflict between following buses and climbing cyclists as the lane width is not wide enough to accommodate overtaking. It would normally be expected that more lane width would be required to travel uphill in such circumstances. There is a strong argument for increasing the Bus Lane Width on the uphill section from 3.5 meters to 4.5 meters to resolve this conflict.

   If a wider climbing lane is not possible at this time, the drawing up of a Code of Practice for all Bus Lane Users might address this potential conflict.

   New Traffic Islands:
   Another point of concern is the inbound lane width at the hard Traffic Islands opposite Days Hotel. In our view more space is desirable at these hard Island pinch points. We would recommend that the current lane width at the existing hard Island be retained. The drawings appear to show the lane is to be narrowed by the widening of the existing hard Island. Regarding the proposed new 3 meter wide hard Island for the Pre-Signaling Junction, given that this traffic Island is to cater for Pre-Bus Signaling Lights we do not see the need that it be 3 meters wide.

   We recommend that this also be reduced in width to allow for a wider inbound road width at this pinch point i.e. Increase the inbound lane width from 4.25 meters to 5 meters.

   We would be happy to discuss any of our observations in greater detail with the design team and would welcome the opportunity to do so and can be contacted at the below number or email

   Is mise le meas,

   Oisín Ó Nidh,
   Secretary Galway Cycling Campaign.

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