Moy Active Travel Loop
HISTORY
Moy & Charlemont was designed and built over 250 years ago, around a central communal, market square. Over the last century this communal space has been gradually eaten away by prioritising cars and parking. The busy A29 now runs straight through the square cutting the village in half. The remainder of the square is dedicated to parking.
PROBLEMS
Traffic:
The A29, measuring 12 metres wide, cuts straight through the centre of the square and carries an average of 11090 cars per day, peaking at 1020 car per hour in the morning (OpendataNI, 2016).
Extreme pollution:
Charlemont St. was in excess of the 40μg/m3 annual mean NO2 objective in 2017 – showing a level of 61μg/m3 - indicating "a potential exceedance of the NO2 hourly mean AQS objective". (Airquality NI, 2017)
Parking:
The remaining green/public space in the square has been further eroded over the years with an additional 115 car parking spaces.
Hazardous
Walking and cycling through the village is hazardous and very dangerous beyond the village boundary.
No green spaces:
There are no green public/communal spaces to exercise. The village has 1 football pitch, a small play park but nothing else in the way of leisure facilities. The Blackwater, flowing beside the village, has no towpath or access. Residents are confined within the village and walk/run/cycle on footpaths beside busy traffic.
CURRENT SITUATION
Walkers/runners: wishing to get out into the countryside, reach the end of the footpaths at Killyman St. & Collegeland Rd. and turn back, because the short stretches of road leading to Derrygally Way and Derrycaw Rd have no footpath, traffic travels at 60mph and is extremely hazardous.
Cyclists: due to high concentration of traffic coupled with speed, children and inexperienced cyclists have no safe cycle routes in and out of Moy so cycling is very restricted.
Access to the village: for cyclists and walkers is restricted by high speed/volume traffic.
PROPOSAL: add 300m of additional shared paths.
Adding approximately 300 metres of shared (walking & cycling) paths will create a safe, active 10km loop toward Bond's Bridge (and beyond) and give access to Moy for walkers, runners and cyclists from the surrounding areas, of all ages and abilities.
- Extend a shared walking/cycle path at Killyman St. to meet Derrygally Way;
- Extend a shared walking/cycle on Collegeland Rd to meet Derrycaw Road;
- Move the 30 mph limits beyond these 2 points to reduce speed and increase safety with village boundaries;
- Create shared walking/cycle paths around the square and through the village – allowing children to cycle to school, shops, youth clubs, football etc safely.
BENEFITS
- 10km activity loop from Moy—Argory—Moy;
- Safe access to schools, shops and community activities;
- Promoting cycling, walking, running and physical activity;
- Safe routes for children to travel sustainably;
- Access to other parks and facilities i.e. Argory, Peatlands, Ardress House;
- Bring additional trade into the village;
- Very cost effective.