The ~190km network is scheduled for completion in 2031.
Since then there's been no obvious progress on the ground. We asked the Department for Infrastructure for an update on routes 1–53 i.e. the uncompleted routes of the Belfast Bicycle Network.
Routes 54–57 i.e. Comber Greenway, Connswater Greenway, Lagan Towpath & North Foreshore Path have already been completed.
We asked for details on budget spend, metres completed and the delivery step of each route. We didn't receive the information in the format requested, but have taken the information provided and created a brief summary of where the network currently stands in terms of those 3 metrics, followed by a more detailed table with additional information on each route.
The delivery plan outlines how the £100 million budget will be allocated over the next 10 years as follows:
SCHEDULE | YEAR | BUDGET |
Year 1 | 2021–22 | £1M |
Year 2 | 2022–23 | £3M |
Year 3 (current) |
2023–24 | £5M |
Year 4 | 2024–25 | £7M |
Year 5 | 2025–26 | £9M |
Year 6 | 2026–27 | £11M |
Year 7 | 2027–28 | £13M |
Year 8 | 2028–29 | £15M |
Year 9 | 2029–30 | £17M |
Year 10 | 2030–31 | £19M |
£100M |
Table 1
spend 21-22 | spend 22-23 | spend 23-24* | |
---|---|---|---|
Proposed spend as per delivery plan |
1,000,000 | £3,000,000 | £5,000,000 |
Actual Spend | £322,758 | £980,190 | £490,000 |
Underspend £ | £677,242 | £2,019,810 | £4,510,000 |
Underspend % | 68% | 67% | 90% |
Table 2
*figures for 23–24 are not released yet. However, a letter fom DFI to Belfast City Council (Feb 23) detailed funding would be "in the region of £490,000" for 23–24.
The delivery plan lists the 8 steps each route goes through before completion.
1. GUIDANCE
2. CONSULTATION
3. DESIGN
4. LEGISLATION
5. LIAISON
6. PROCUREMENT
7. CONSTRUCTION
8. POST PROJECT EVALUATION
Delivery Step | Routes | Total |
---|---|---|
1. Guidance | ||
2. Consultation* | 1,13,14,16,23,25,37,38,52 | 9 |
3. Design | 2,3,5,10,11,14,15,16 | 8 |
4. Legislation | ||
5. Liaison | ||
6. Procurement | ||
7. Construction | ||
8. Post project evaluation |
Table 3
*DFI used the term "feasibility" to describe 9 routes, pending clarification we have interpreted this as "consultation".
Routes 1–53 are divided into short, medium and long term routes due for completion at different dates between 2021–31. Each route has a corresponding distance in metres (see table 5). The total distance of all 53 uncompleted routes totals just over 150km.
Total distance when completed |
Metres completed 21-22 |
Metres completed 22-23 |
|
---|---|---|---|
Short term routes: 1-16 |
34,150metres or 33,450 metres |
0 metres | 0 metres |
Medium term routes: 17–38 | 53,100 metres | 0 metres | 0 metres |
Long term routes: 39–53 |
63,925 metres or 63,255 metres |
0 metres | 0 metres |
Table 4
Scheme name | Length m | Metres completed 21–22 |
Metres completed 21–22 |
Spend 21–22 |
Spend 22-23 |
Delivery Step |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SHORT TERM ROUTES (2022–25) | ||||||
1. Beechill Greenway (Lagan Gateway – Belvoir Road) | 1800m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | Feasibility |
2. Cavehill Road / Limestone Road (Phases 1 and 2) | 2400m | 0m | 0m | £29,323.00 | £10,980 | Design |
3.Colin Paths (1 and 2), Lagmore Ave & Lagmore Dale | 2750m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £18,700 | Design |
4. Comber Greenway lighting design Eastern |
£1,680 | £0 | Complete | |||
5. Dublin Road – Botanic – Stranmillis Embankmt | 1550m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | Design |
6. Forth Meadow Greenway (Part 1) | 5100m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
7. High Street – Castle Street: pedestrian crossing & 2 way cycle lane |
1050m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £35,651 | |
8. High Street – Victoria Park: Middlepath St. alterations. |
550m | 0m | 0m | £3,707 | £0 | |
9. Inner Ring (Gasworks – Belfast Transport Hub) | 1300m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
10. Island Street: traffic calming | 500m | 0m | 0m | £15,557 | £26,150 | Design |
11. Montgomery Road: cycle link | 1000m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £36,220 | Design |
12. Ormeau Park Bridge – Ladas Way | 2200m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
13a. Ravenhill Greenway (Phase 1): ammendment to traffic lanes at Ormeau Embankment | 2700m | 0m | 0m | £13,855 | £0 | Feasibility |
13b. BCN Ravenhill Road: Cycle Scheme | 0m | 0m | £0 | £13,200 | Feasibility | |
14a. Sydenham – Holywood Path OR | 4850m | 0m | 0m | £6,284 | £20,320 |
Feasibility Design |
14b. Sydenham Greenway (consultation on priorities currently underway) |
or 4150m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 |
Feasibility Design |
15. Ulster University – Riverside Path: duct proving survey for Siemens/Yunex | 700m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £1,084 |
Feasibility/ Design |
16. West Belfast Greenway (Phases 1 and 2). Feasibility study. | 5700m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £50,357 | Design |
TOTAL | 34,150m (or 33,450m) | 0m | 0m | £70,406 | £212,662 | |
MEDIUM TERM ROUTES (2025–28) | ||||||
17. Beechill Greenway (Cairnshill P&R – Belvoir Road) | 1,200m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
18. Belfast Transport Hub – Boucher Road – Finaghy Road North | 6,100m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
19. Botanic Gardens – Royal Victoria Hospital | 2,550m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
20. Cavehill Road (Phase 3) | 900m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
21. Chichester Street – Wellington Place | 950m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
22. Colin Paths (3 and 4) | 3,300m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
23. Crumlin Road – Oldpark Road – Ballysillan | 4,100m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | Feasibility |
24. Donegall Place – Ulster University | 1,150m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
25. East Bridge Street – Belfast Transport Hub | 1,550m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | Feasibility |
26. Forth Meadow Greenway (Part 2) | 2,500m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
27. Grosvenor Road – Springfield Road | 2,400m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
28. Holywood Link | 1,000m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
29. Inner Ring (Belfast Transport Hub – Ulster University): Shankill gateway, Durham St. |
1,600m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £32,433 | |
30. Lanark Way – Waterworks Park | 3,000m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
31. Lockview Road | 550m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
32. Montgomery Road – Braniel | 1,050m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
33. North Foreshore (South) | 3,750m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
34. North Queen Street – Grove Park | 2,350m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
35. Queen’s Island paths | 3,000m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
36. Shankill Road – Woodvale Park | 2,400m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
37. West Belfast Greenway (Phases 3 and 4): Feasibility study | 6,900m | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | Feasibility |
38. York Street | 800m | 0m | £0 | £0 | Feasibility | |
TOTAL | 53,100 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £32,433 | |
LONG TERM ROUTES (2028–31) | ||||||
39. Ballysillan – Belfast Castle | 4,500 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
40. Beersbridge Road | 2,500 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
41. Castlereagh Road | 3,400 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
42. Falls Park – Colin | 4,900 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
43. Great Victoria Street | 700 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
44. Grove Park – Somerton Road | 2,900 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
45. Lisburn Road | 2,175 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
46. North Circular Road – Giant’s Park | 3,750 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
47. Outer Ring (Balmoral Avenue – Monagh bypass) | 5,150 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
48. Outer Ring: A55 Knock Road / Glen Road Junction | 11,850 | 0m | 0m | £87,887 | £0 | |
48. Outer Ring - Signal Upgrade A55 Knock Road / Cregagh Road | £3,086 | £245,000 | ||||
49. Ravenhill Greenway (Phase 2) |
1,150 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
50. Stormont Path | 6,450 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
51. Stranmillis Road – Shaw’s Bridge | 3,400 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
52a. Sydenham – Holywood Path | 2,850 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | Feasibility |
52b. OR Sydenham Greenway | or 2,150 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | Feasibility |
53. Victoria Park – Holywood (via harbour and coastal path) | 8,250 | 0m | 0m | £0 | £0 | |
TOTAL | 63,925 or 63,255 | 0m | 0m | £90,973 | £245,000 |
The word “parking” has its roots in Washington DC. In 1871, the Washington Parking Commission was established – not to park cars as they didn’t exist then – but to to plant trees, bringing shade, birdsong and clean air into the city. “Parking strips” were leafy green areas at the sides of Washington’s city streets.
By 1920 there were 120,000 cars in Washington and the city began removing the trees from the ‘parking strips’ to make room for the cars. The first “car park” opened in Detroit in 1923 and by 1971 - 100 years after the Washington Parking Commission was established – NASA started parking cars on the moon.
©NASA on the Commons “The Lunar Roving Vehicle is photographed alone against the lunar background during the Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA)“
Why the obsession with parking and why do we need so much of it? Let’s look at the main roads into Belfast. The Lisburn Rd, Malone Rd, Ormeau, Falls, Newtownards and Antrim roads are known as arterial routes. Similar to arteries in the body that pump blood, oxygen, and nutrients around - keeping us alive – arterial routes pump people, money, ideas & opportunity around the city, keeping it alive.
When people don’t exercise and eat the wrong things, fatty deposits build up in arteries, constricting the flow and causing heart attacks and strokes. When car deposits build up in arterial routes the entire city can have a cardiac arrest. Parking quickly removes car deposits and keeps the flow… flowing. If you’re in the business of moving cars around a congested city, more parking means more flow.
To ensure we have enough parking to maintain the flow, we have an enormous amount of parking laws and regulations. We also have a concept known as ‘minimums’ or ‘standards’. These are a set of rules that state the minimum number of car park spaces you must provide when constructing certain types of building.
A new golf course = 4 parking spaces per hole. Building a new theatre or bingo hall will cost you 1 parking space for every 3 seats. A new secondary school = 1 space per member of staff + 1 space for every 10 pupils over 17 yrs. Car free developments “may be considered” in built up urban areas - but you can see how space gets quickly swallowed up.
Parking minimums shape and define how our villages, towns and cities look. They devour land – a finite resource – that could be used for more productive purposes. Ask your UUP candidate about parking minimums.
Walk along Belfast’s Gt. Victoria St. and witness the dereliction and anti-social speculation. Property speculators buy buildings – not to renovate or build anything useful – but to gamble that its price will continue to increase.
Cars = thriving city centres?
— CYCUL© (@cyculcc) July 18, 2022
Discuss
If this were the case, Gt. Victoria St Belfast – should be humming with life. Surface car parks abound. On street parking on both sides.
All within 100m.
––
Belfast's 5th Ave
Belfast's Rue de Rivoli#DerelictBelfast#DerelictIreland pic.twitter.com/CfKMurtxOW
Too often heritage buildings are left to rot, or more often bulldozed to create a surface car park to help service the debt. As car park spaces help increase traffic flow – particularly in congested city centre areas – permission is granted. As a result more cars are attracted into the city, creating a demand for more parking and the conditions for more speculation, dereliction and bulldozing. See how surface parking eventually devoured Kansas City, USA.
Ask your SDLP candidate about parking and dereliction.
A parking space measures 4.8m x 2.4m (11.5m²). The office I’m sitting in was once a small terraced family home. It has 2 bedrooms, sitting room, kitchen with dining area and bathroom. At one time a family of 8 lived here. I’ve just pulled out a tape measure and the floor space takes up just over 2 parking spaces.
It’s not unlike the 100s of terraced houses demolished in Belfast’s Sailortown in the 1960s to create the M2. Many people who lived in Sailortown were moved to multi-storey accommodation in the New Lodge. They now look down at 100s of car parking spaces along Corporation St. where their homes once stood. Multi-storey for the people, pied-à-terre for the cars.
Ask your Sinn Fein candidate about parking and housing.
In the early 1970s children in Northern Ireland played in the street while soldiers crouched in their doorways aiming machine guns. The troops have left the streets – and so have the children – ironically the streets are no longer safe to play in because of traffic.
In the early 1970s Amsterdam was choked with cars and parking. The children decided they wanted to play in the street like their parents did. Take 10 minutes out of your day and watch how communities in Amsterdam fought to create the city we know today.
Now compare that with this recent campaign in North Belfast.
Ask your DUP candidate about parking and playing.
In 2020 a landmark case in London found the air pollution from traffic responsible for the death of a young child. London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, called the coroner’s conclusion a “landmark moment” and labelled pollution a “public health crisis”. This saw the acceleration of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) across the city.
The current culture wars over LTNs resembles the smoking ban of 2007 - only with an awful lot more social media. As creatures of habit we know that old habits die hard, but bad habits die a lot harder. Not blowing cigarette smoke or exhaust fumes in other peoples faces may seem fairly reasonable things to do – it seems not when you’ve been allowed to do it for a lifetime.
LTNs reduce pollution, traffic accidents, street crime (including sexual offences), provide space for children to play and dramatically improve the lives of people who live there. Residents love LTNs. Some drivers detest them, because they can’t use them to shorten a car journey and it removes their free parking.
Ask the Greens (they’ll be all over it…) and PBP about parking, health and safety.
The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) control both supply and demand for parking. In 2015 the NI Audit office advised DfI to stop getting high own their supply, as it was "inconsistent with the aims of promoting sustainable public transport choices and reducing reliance on the car.” In 2015 there were 910,270 private cars in NI. At the end of September 2022 there were 1,015,730 private cars - an increase of 11.6% – unsurprisingly, parking continues to increase.
5 successive ministers for infrastructure have come and gone since 2015. They all started off in the driving seat - promising to increase active travel and reduce car usage. They all ended up in the boot – bound and gagged, hostages to decades’ old plans and policies while active travel flatlined and car use increased.
Nicola Mallon spent 2 fruitless years trying to wean her department of an addiction to cars. She attempted to push through the Belfast Bicycle Network – essentially reallocating 100km of on-street parking and arterial road space to active travel. It was pointless, because nothing cures the pain of congestion quite like on-street parking. DFI recently announced yet another cut to the Belfast Bicycle Network budget – the build schedule has slipped from 10 years to 200 years. The opportunity presented by the pandemic - seized by cities across Europe – was squandered in less than 18 months.
So when the candidates come knocking over the next few weeks, ask them about their parking policies. Tell them why parking is political. They mightn’t have an answer - but don’t blame them. They aren’t in control. Neither are your MLAs. Neither were the last 5 ministers.
That should be alarming.
This article was first published on Slugger O'Toole on 20/04/23
]]>
"The most prominent site available" in Belfast saw an exponential increase in traffic over the next 3 decades. Time passed. Priorities changed. The memory slowly de-greened. Space and access slowly eroded. Fewer people and more and more cars passed by.
“…snag in the smooth running of the one-way traffic scheme”
Central park. Hyde park. Phoenix park. Yellowstone park. Children’s play park. Country park.
Can I park here? Is there anywhere to park? You can park outside. Use the underground park. Park and ride. How much to park?
Same word 2 different meanings.
Here’s an example of the 2 words colliding - an homonym in action.
This essentially says no parking in the parking strip.
What’s a parking strip for if not for parking? It’s like saying "No sitting in the sitting room" or "No dining in the dining room"!
So how did abandoning a motor car in a public space come to be known as parking?
It mightn’t surprise you to know that cars not only stole the public space, they stole the word "parking" as well.
Not a homonym - but “space” has a multitude of meanings. It describes an area with no buildings. A area between the staves in sheet music. An interval of time. The storage capacity in your laptop. It also describes the area beyond Earth’s atmosphere. If you want to see pictures of the area beyond our atmosphere, there’s no better resource than the Project Apollo Archive on Flickr. Man’s first adventure into Space.
This image appeared in my stream a few weeks back.
A picture of the lunar surface, but some problem with the film/development produced a strange effect on the horizon, reminiscent of a Rothko painting. It leaped out of the otherwise grey stream of images. Part martian part lunar. But zoom in, and you’ll find it’s not the desolate space you might imagine.
There - among the lunar boulders is a car. A car… “parked” in Space. A parking space, on the moon.
And if that weren’t strange enough, in all, there are 3 cars parked on the moon. There they have remained motionless for 50 years. Parked. Abandoned. Waiting for their owners to return. And there they shall remain as symbols – of how, in the 100 years between 1870 and 1970, we regressed. In that brief blink of time we went from parking trees on earth to dumping cars on the Moon.
To start reclaiming the space, we should start by reclaiming the word.
]]>Here’s how the total £100 Million budget for the Belfast Bicycle Network breaks down, according to DfI's 10 year project delivery plan.
SCHEDULE | YEAR | BUDGET |
Year 1 | 2021–22 | £1M |
Year 2 | 2022–23 | £3M |
Year 3 (current) |
2023–24 | £5M |
Year 4 | 2024–25 | £7M |
Year 5 | 2025–26 | £9M |
Year 6 | 2026–27 | £11M |
Year 7 | 2027–28 | £13M |
Year 8 | 2028–29 | £15M |
Year 9 | 2029–30 | £17M |
Year 10 | 2030–31 | £19M |
£100M |
DfI confirmed to @newsmulg the spend for 23–24 = £0.5M.
That’s 10% of what was pledged for 2023-24.
No idea what previous years’ spend was – let’s give benefit of doubt and assume it was the same.
Let's also assume this is the same going forward.
A quick calculation shows the timescale to complete the Belfast Bicycle Network has slipped from 10 years…
As we’ve said over the years – the Belfast Bicycle Network isn't happening and there's nothing you, your councillor, MLA or Minister can do about it.
]]>They nabbed the Green Party’s roadmap, Nichola Mallon grabbed the keys to the Department of Infrastructure (DFI) and they all headed off, on what they hoped would be a long road trip, to a carbon neutral future.
Then COVID happened. Not shying away from the challenges it presented – Nichola Mallon saw this as a unique window of opportunity. On the 5th of May she stood up in Stormont - and delivered what could only be described as her keynote speech. She grabbed the steering wheel and pressed hard on the accelerator – setting out an incredibly progresive, ambitious new direction for her Department. A key announcement was the creation a new "Walking & Cycling Champion" – a co-pilot to guide her there. The new Walking & Cycling Champion would:
As it turned out - her co-pilot spoke a different travel language, didn’t know the terrain very well and was only available 1 day a week. Almost immediately the minister was veering off course. The steering lock was firmly on, and rather than accelerating toward the future – the car moved slowly in reverse, toward the A5 (Western Transport Corridor) via the York Street Interchange and calling at the Arc21 incinerator in Mallusk en route. There was clearly something seriously wrong under the bonnet.
her co-pilot spoke a different travel language, didn’t know the terrain very well and was only available 7 hours a week
A week later she tried again – announcing the closure of 2 tiny narrow, ancient cobbled streets in Belfast called Hill St and Gordon St – two streets barely wide enough to cycle down let alone drive a car. Cllr Karl Whyte (SDLP) claimed it was just the first step. Surely a Minister of Infrastructure would have the power to close a few cobbled streets? It appeared not.
While the Minister was struggling to control the car - her party colleague, Matthew O’Toole (Finance Spokesperson and member of the Public Accounts Committee) was riffling around under the bonnet, giving the NI Civil Service (NICS) a thorough MOT. The certificate said FAIL – “The NICS needs a radical overhaul”. Worth mentioning that the NICS had nobody behind the wheel at this stage.
In contrast, the public stood slow clapping Nichola Mallon and heaped scorn on the DFI
The DFI has a huge remit (roads, water, flood defence, public transport, active travel etc), and covers a lot of ground (most of that in tarmac). Adding a pandemic and staff shortages to that list must have been unbelieveably challenging. However, the Health Department faced monumental challenges – and the public stood on doorsteps clapping their heroic efforts, heaping praise on Robin Swann. In contrast, the public stood slow clapping Nichola Mallon and heaped scorn on the DFI – on social media anyway.
A year after her keynote, and only a measly few pop-up cycle lanes delivered in Belfast and nothing in Derry City or the rest of Northern Ireland - she was totally exposed.
At this point SDLP/Mallon had a few options:
Option 1 risked the accusation that she was unable to drive the car, and should never have been given the keys in the first place. Option 2 meant continually breaking down and never reaching the destination.
With the exception of creation of the Infrastructure Commission – a sort of running repair – she chose option 2.
With a part time co-pilot, no accelerator, the steering lock permanently on, and the vehicle going in reverse – the only thing left to try was the brake. She braked at the York Street Interchange. She did a hand-brake turn at the Mallusk incinerator. All she had was the brake. Nichola Mallon’s legacy may be the things she didn’t do – rather than the things she’d planned to do.
2 bruising years to the day after her keynote speech - on the 5th May 2022 – the voters asked Nichola Mallon to hand back the keys. She lost her Ministerial job, and her Assembly job all in an afternoon as did the people working in her constituency office. All dumped at the side of the road and told to walk home. Devastating.
Like all her predecessors, she failed to change the direction of the department. They all start off in the driving seat – they all end up in the boot.
Like all her predecessors, she failed to change the direction of the department. They all start off in the driving seat – they all end up in the boot, hostage to old policies, old thinking and cultural inertia. Car ownership and car journeys continue to rise. How much was Mallon’s fault and how much was DFIs fault? The driver was clearly up for the journey, she may have niave thinking the vehicle was too – but we've all been guilty of that. Did this ultimately cost Mallon her job? There were other factors in play. However, had she reached a few significant milestones listed in her keynote, she may still have a constituency office and a ministerial car, and the SDLP might not have lost 4 seats.
The SDLP are once again on the hard shoulder, with no ministerial car, looking for another new vehicle, or a lift to another destination. Sinn Fein now have a fleet of 4 ministerial vehicles – John O’Dowd recently picked up the keys at DFI. He’s been around the block several times, having driven Education in the past.
He’s currently walking slowly around the car, kicking the tyres, looking under the bonnet, deciding if if really wants to get into the driving seat.
He’s currently walking slowly around the car, kicking the tyres, looking under the bonnet, deciding if if really wants to get into the driving seat. Will he get any further up the road to a carbon neurtal future? It's very doubtful – Nichola Mallon never got out of the driveway.
]]>Craigavon Lakes has become increasingly popular over the past few years for walking, cycling, wheeling and running, but it’s only a tiny part of a larger, traffic-free travel system, unique on the island of Ireland. While the paths around the Lakes measure about 5km – there are almost 40km of traffic-free cycle paths in Craigavon, reaching towards Portadown, Lurgan and Lough Neagh. The problem is the lack of any mapping or signage to help navigate it – and therefore a general lack of awareness… until now!
Stephen McNally of Cycul explains:
"We’re all aware of Craigavon’s infamous roundabouts – between Lurgan and Portadown – but have you noticed that there are no footpaths alongside these roads, no pedestrians, no traffic lights or zebra crossings? That’s because there’s a totally separate network for walkers and cyclists, running under and over the road network.”
“Back in the early 1960s, when Craigavon’s planners were designing the traffic system, they were already aware of the effect increasing traffic was having on communities. They recognised that the young and the old, no longer found it safe to travel in their communities on foot or bicycle. Therefore, they designed a very sophisticated, separate transport system for Craigavon, using over 40 underpasses and 6 large bridges, so that walkers and cyclists would never encounter cars.”
We spent the winter of 2021-22 researching and mapping the cycle network – known locally as the Black Paths – and developed a web resource with an active travel map, suggested routes to explore, Google map, news section and a history of the network.
We hope it helps people appreciate what’s possible above and below the busy roads in Craigavon, and persuades them to get to school, to the shops, the leisure centre, the local industrial estates, train stations, and get out and explore the Black Paths.
With the climate crisis, fuel prices edging toward £2 a litre, and everyone spending more time stuck in traffic – Craigavon is the only place in Northern Ireland (or Ireland) with its own alternative travel system. If the future of transport is active travel, Craigavon arrived there over 50 years ago.
You can learn more about the Black Paths by visiting https://blackpaths.org
Quick facts
3 years have come and gone and the energy and enthusiasm leading up to the initial publication has lost much of its fizz. A year of COVID and the resulting restrictions has seen enthusiasm go even flatter.
However, news on the grapevine is that the Belfast Bicycle Network is back on the agenda, off the shelf, on the table and soon to be in the headlines – announcements are imminent.
Reading through the draft document again we kept coming across the phrase “interested but concerned”. The draft document states that the proposed network is designed “with this cohort in mind”. After some digging we found the phrase is ubiquitous in bicycle planning – a general catch-all for people who would like to cycle but are concerned about safety issues.
The phrase was coined by Roger Geller, the bicycle co-ordinator at the Portland Office of Transportation, USA back in 2007. To understand attitudes in his city he created 4 broad categories:
Geller maintained that IBCs (the largest group) are the group of citizens who will only cycle if proper cycle infrastructure was provided.
The Draft Belfast Bicycle Network document assessed that “interested but concerned” makes up around 53% of the Belfast population. That’s an awful lot of potential cyclists!
But who are this group of "interested but concerned" citizens.
It turns out that there has been little, if any research into this group of users. It assumes they are a homologous group with all the same level of interest and concern.
So… with the help of the Department of Infrastructure through their Road Safety (Safe Travel) grant scheme, we spent a few weeks asking over 700 IBCs in Belfast their views.
To find out what they think… click for a free download or contact us to order (£) a hard copy.
]]>Effectiveness of public transport 2015 A study by the NI Audit Office examining the effectiveness of public transport in Northern Ireland by assessing performance against the public transport initiatives and targets outlined in the Regional Transportation Strategy (RTS) (2002) over the period 2002 - 2014
Some want to track change over time to plan, design, and advocate for future accommodation for people who walk and bicycle.
DfI Cycle Resources: The Department for Infrastructure has outlined the kind of cycling community we would like Northern Ireland to be in 25 years (2015)
DFI Mapping portal: This Mapping Portal is the public source for map data relating to Northern Ireland's Dept of Infra.
Is it too wet to cycle in Belfast?
Forward work planning discussion paper Sept '20
Planing for the future of transport - time for change Jun '21
Departmental Board agenda and minutes
Cycle Design Guide NI DEM 181/20: This Memorandum provides technical guidance aimed at informing the design of new cycling infrastructure.
Cycle Path Guidance Screening Form: guidance to designers to ensure consistency of design and ultimately get more people cycling.
Cycling by Design 2010 (Scotland)
Cycling by Design 2021 (Scotland)
Active Travel Guidance 2021 (Wales)
London Cycling Design Standards (TFL)
Cycle infrastructure design (LTN 1/20)
The Cycle Routes (Amendment) Order (Northern Ireland)
Pivotal: Good-Government-in-Northern-Ireland
The Road Traffic Regulation (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 - parking places
Belfast Parking spaces mapped
Japan & Tokyo parking culture
RAC's Standing Still report 2021
Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022
LTNs impacts on NO2 and traffic 2022:
Impact of LTNs on street crime 2021
Impact of LTNs on reducing traffic injuries Jan '21
Active travel England - House of Commons Committee report
Copenhagen City of Cyclists 2017 - The 2017 Annual Bicycle Report confirms that cycling is still the preferred mode of transport for the inhabitants of Copenhagen.
Best practices inner city bicycle parking: A guide for the city of Amsterdam
Used Bicycle Export: We export bicycles from Holland to all over the world.
Children living in the Amsterdam neighbourhood De Pijp fight for a play street without cars in 1972.
Why do transit-infrastructure projects in New York cost 20 times more on a per kilometer basis than in Seoul? Transport Costs Project
The municipality of Oslo has a vision of the capital as a greener, warmer and more inclusive city for everyone.” Street Design for Oslo 2020
McKinsey Apr '23: The Future of Mobility
Time Travel - how far you can travel by bike in a given time.
Spatial NI - historical mapping for NI.
Traffic in Towns – The Buchanan Report, HMSO, Nov' 1969
]]>The Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs launched a new air quality app recently:
The new NI Air App“to help people to make more informed and immediate decisions about their outdoor activities”.
Launching the App Minister Edwin Poots said:
“If you’ve any breathing difficulties, this app provides free critical information allowing you to take necessary preventative measures to avoid air pollution and protect your health when at home or on-the-go.”
So, if you suffer from respiratory problems, the App lets you know when you should confine yourself to the house? An air quality Lockdown?
The App is linked in to 9 councils areas - all with Air Quality Monitoring Areas (AQMAs). Between them, they monitor 19 areas.
These monitor Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and Particulate Matter (PM10). NO2 is exhaust fumes. PM10 is generated by burning domestic fuel and again – cars. Half of the road transport PM10 is from combusted fuel, the other half from tyres, brakes and road dust.
As the table below shows, road traffic is the always a trigger.
Air pollution in Northern Ireland 2018
Essentially the App monitors pollution caused by car exhausts, brakes, tyres and road dust.
We thought we'd make a small change to the App to let users know why they may be entering an Air Quality Lockdown.
We also though it might make a lovely new CYCUL T-shirt?
Let us know if you're interested.
Thanks to @malohara for the heads-up.
]]>On the 5th May the Minister for Infrastructure, Nichola Mallon, stood in Stormont and announced she was creating a new Walking and Cycling Champion for NI. It was quite an announcement:
“Our champion will ensure that we deliver our commitment to increase the percentage of journeys made by walking and cycling. Inspiring our communities, restructuring our spaces, changing forever the way we live – and changing it for the better.”WOW! - that’s a job spec!
“To establish immediately an action focus group of stakeholders both within and outside government to provide quick advice and to challenge my department and to ensure that we consider opportunities and build on the positive changes we are seeing… in higher levels of walking and cycling."I waited for the call.
“The walking and cycling Champion will be an existing Departmental official, to be agreed in the coming weeks.”
This was a landmark announcement, the creation of a new role, with sweeping responsibilities. It received an enormous amount of media attention. For a department who have delivered more metres of press releases about cycle lanes than actual metres of cycle lanes – we anticipated the official press release – naming the Walking & Cycle Champion – within days.
However, it all went strangely quiet. It seemed that some “insiders” were aware who the new Champion was – but we couldn’t find the name anywhere.
Fast forward 16 weeks after the Minister’s statement – you might think as one of the small handful of social enterprises in NI who work to promote cycling – we’d have received a press release with news of whom the Champion is?
Nope.
Maybe we would be immediately called to the “focus group of stakeholders”?
Negatory.
Perhaps the Cycle Champion phoned or emailed to pick our brains?
Nada?
Maybe it was just us? Living and working in the sticks – perhaps we’re just out of the loop. Maybe everyone else knows what we don’t?
So – we asked the cyclists of NI if they knew who their new Champion was.
113 local cyclists took the survey.
7 - know who the champion is.
106 - have no idea.
As I write this - the Department of Infrastructure has yet to officially announce the name of the new Walking & Cycle Champion.
The Walking & Cycle Champion doesn’t use the newly “created” title.
The Walking and Cycling Champion hasn’t even added the role to their profile page on the Dept. Infrastructure website.
It seems the Department aren't keen on walkers and cyclists knowing who their Champion is?
Maybe you can find out who the Champion is? Do let us know.
Maybe it doesn’t matter any more? Traffic levels are almost back to pre-lockdown levels.
CYCUL©
Updates:
5/10/21: a year and a half after the announcement of the 'champion" Philp McGuigan MLA, calls for the minister to appoint a "real champion… outside the department" – watch.
The name of the champion has still to be officially released or to appear on any organisational chart.
8/06/23:The role of Walking and Cycling Champion no longer exists within the department.
@deptinfra stated at the APG for cycling:
“We feel It’s unfair to place that responsibility on one person”.
No press release was issued.
]]>The proposals for changes to the Highway Code were published yesterday. These may look like small tweaks but they point to something more significant.
“Hierarchy of Road Users’ and new Rule H1 which ensures that those road users who can do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat they may pose to other road users. The objective of the hierarchy is not to give priority to pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders in every situation but rather to ensure a more mutually respectful and considerate culture of safe and effective road use that benefits all users.
new Rule H3 which places a requirement on drivers to give priority to cyclists when they are turning into or out of a junction, or changing direction or lane, just as they would to other motor vehicles”
This is a move toward the approach in France, Netherlands etc of presumed liability where, in an accident involving a car and cyclist, the responsibility/liability lies with the car driver. It was seen in these countries as instrumental in reducing the number of accidents and culture shift toward cycling. However, the new change recognises “the need for everyone to behave responsibly”.
Worth noting that this places pedestrians above cyclists - so maybe stay off the footpaths at the coffee stop and take it easy through parks and pedestrianised areas.
WALKERS –> CYCLISTS –> HORSE-RIDERS –> CARS (in that order, according to vulnerability).
If you cycle regularly you’ll be aware of the ambiguity around the effectiveness of helmets and where and when you can cycle 2 abreast.
Finally - we get some clear guidance - more specifically, drivers who like shouting out their windows get some clarification.
The code changes from:
“You should wear a cycle helmet which conforms to current regulation”
to:
“evidence suggests that wearing a cycle helmet will reduce your risk of sustaining a head injury in certain circumstances”
This acknowledges that compulsory helmet wearing sends out a signal that cycling is dangerous - it’s not. It also acknowledges that they are ineffective in protecting users from dangerous driving. Helmet wearing is now an individual choice (events/clubs will have a separate policies).
The code changes from:
“ride in single file on narrow or busy roads and when riding round bends”
to:
“When riding in larger groups on narrow lanes, it is sometimes safer to ride two abreast”
The enables cyclists - particularly in rural parts of the country - to prevent vehicles from passing where there is clearly no room to pass – and allowing them to pass when the road allows. It takes some confidence and experience to hold off a Land Rover pulling a horse box, but that's now encouraged.
All this has still to be confirmed and when it does a focused advertising campaign will be required to make all road users aware of the new pecking order.
Take away:
Also, worth noting that Northern Ireland "follows" the GB Highway Code - these new changes to the code have to be adopted into the NI code.
Image © Amelia Wells
If you live in the Dungannon area you may have noticed an increase in the number of secondary school children and over 50s cycling around town. We initiated a pilot project in the early part of 2019.
After carrying out a school survey in the Armagh and Dungannon area at the end of 2017 and found that cycling came rock bottom in activities offered as part of the curriculum.
Stephen McNally from Cycul explained:
“Cycling isn’t unpopular, it’s simply the lack of equipment and guidance that prevents schools from offering it as part of the curriculum. We took our Ride Leader training through Cycling Ireland in 2018 which gave us access to the Southern Health Trust’s bike pod in Dungannon, located within walking distance of the schools. We then contacted 3 local secondary schools, St. Patricks Academy, Drumglass High and St. Patricks College and arranged for a group of Year 8s from each school to go cycling during their PE class.”
St Patrick’s College, Windmill Wood, Dungannon.
The pupils started with training sessions in the car park, concentrating on basic bike handling, looking over their shoulder, making strong hand signals and controlling the bike at lower speeds. Then they went out on some quiet country roads and off-road sections building up confidence before venturing through town:
“It’s been incredibly popular. We’re only working with Year 8s during the pilot but there’s huge interest across all ages to get involved. The goal is simply to give pupils the skill and confidence to get out on their bikes, discover their town and even start cycling to school”.
Drumglass High, Dungannon.
…I can say without doubt that it helped many of these newcomer students to establish friendships and connections with other classmates – J Hoines, Drumglass High School
…you have encouraged the young people to get out on their bikes again and given them the confidence to cycle further than before – J Kelly, St Patricks Academy
We ran a parallel project with a group of over 50s, mostly women, some who haven’t cycled in 50+ years:
50+ group in Windmill Wood, Dungannon.
“The group started by cycling 500m in week 1 and finished 6 weeks later cycling over 15 miles along the Newry Canal. If you remove the barriers and give people the opportunity, you discover how popular cycling can be - regardless of age.”
To finish off the project all 40+ participants went to Craigavon Trails at the end of June for their first experience of riding off-road on mountain bike trails.
We would like to thank Mid Ulster Council, the NI Executive and TBUC for supporting the project.
Cycling isn’t unpopular, it’s simply the lack of equipment and guidance that prevents schools from offering it as part of the curriculum.
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I started smoking in 1986. I was 16. Everyone smoked. My Da smoked. All my teachers smoked – in class, constantly. At 16 you could bring a note from your parents giving you permission to smoke in school. Friends smoked, brother smoked, girlfriend smoked. I started work at 18 in a local newspaper, I smoked at my desk. I could smoke on the bus to work. I could smoke on a train. I could smoke in a plane. I could smoke in a hospital. I could smoke in a bar. I could smoke in a restaurant. I could smoke in McDonalds. The Embassy World Snooker Championship was on TV. Snooker players smoked. Darts players smoked. Footballers smoked in dugouts and managers smoked on the touchline. Marlboro hung over the gantries in F1 racing, JPS, Silk Cut and Benson & Hedges plastered the cars and the drivers.
In many ways I was lucky though, at the start of the 90s smoking culture began to be dismantled. It still took me another 10 years to quit though.
In the 25 years we’ve spent raising the bar on access and opportunity to tobacco we have lowered the bar on our access and opportunity to use cars. We now live in a society where it’s almost seen as a human right to own a car. Easy finance and a saturated 2nd hand market mean it’s not just one car – 2, 3 and 4 cars isn’t uncommon in some households. In most schools, student cars now outnumber those of staff in the school car park. Vehicles once used by the military now drop children off to primary schools. Children don’t play outside, instead they’re driven to swimming clubs, football clubs, youth clubs and driven home again – ironically because the roads are now too dangerous for children to walk or cycle. In the same 25 years the simple VW Golf has become twice as heavy, twice as powerful and considerably longer and wider. The new Mini is mini in name only.
“City fathers have to choose. Cars or bicycles. And in Copenhagen they’ve gone for the bike. The upshot is a city that works. It’s pleasing to look at. It’s astonishingly quiet. It’s safe. And no one wastes half their life looking for a parking space. I’d live there in a heartbeat.” Jeremy Clarkson
The car is a great thing. Covering long distances in short time they’re an amazing invention. But they were never intended to solve the problem of short distances. They were invented to replace those long journeys where railways didn’t run, where horses still pulled carriages long distances. 100 years ago trams, buses, bikes and walking had solved the problem of transport in inner cities, but somehow a car culture left unchecked has eroded these systems and turned all city and town centres into car parks and traffic jams. In a similar way car culture eroded a rural public transport system. The train network was scrapped 60 years ago and isn’t coming back. We have a patchwork public transport network in rural areas – in rural communities the car is now essential. The solution for transporting large volumes of people efficiently in inner cities is the same in 2013 as it was in 1913 – trams, buses, bikes and walking. In terms of efficiency, value for money, health benefits and environmental benefits there’s a clear winner – the bike.
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” Albert Einstein
The current demand is for a bridge across the Lagan to the Gasworks in Belfast. In Belfast there are currently 8 bridges across the river Lagan where cycling is possible. All along a relatively short stretch of river. Most have 2 lanes, some have 4 lanes. All have footpaths. They’re all fairly modern and well maintained. Why do we need another bridge solely for cyclists? Why can’t we claim one of the existing bridges, or a lane or two at no cost? And while we’re there, a few of those minor roads currently used as ‘rat-runs’ where a car has no business being. We can create dedicated cycle-only roads in and out of the city linking up with greenways, towpaths at no cost. The call for more ‘cycle infrastructure’ is always met with “we can’t afford it”. But we’ve already paid for it, it’s all in place; we simply need to shift our thinking on how we allocate it. Rather than continually calling for segregation of bikes, we should rapidly integrate bikes into a ready-made infrastructure. Segregation may still be needed between greenways and inner city but within the city centre reduced car usage should make segregation largely redundant.
One of the things you realise when living in a rural area is, there’s really enough room for everyone. The density of the road network coupled with lower number of cars suddenly strikes an almost perfect balance. To do the same in inner cities we need to reduce car access in key locations. The density of roads exists but there are too many cars allowed unrestricted access.
Here’s a quick one. Botanic Avenue, Dublin Road, Linenhall St should be totally car free. Scrap on-street parking in Ormeau Ave, Donegal St, Castle St and Clifton St and use the freed up space for 2-way bike lanes. Pinch a lane in Sunnyside Street and another on the Kings Bridge and instantly you have a high-speed, 10 minute network from one side of the city to the other.
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” Leonardo da Vinci
Knowing tobacco was a killer for decades wasn’t enough. I was 100% clear of consequences but still willingly bought into the smoking culture. Putting stickers on fag packets didn’t work. TV commercials didn’t work. Poster campaigns didn’t work. Only when access and opportunity to cigarettes began to be restricted did the shift begin. I stopped smoking because I knew it was affecting my health, but crucially it began costing too much, and I couldn’t smoke in all the places I used to.
Knowing that cars are a problem in towns and cities isn’t enough. Painted lines and kerb stones without a cultural shift isn’t enough. Painted lines and kerbs is the equivalent of putting a ‘smoking kills’ on fag packets, it’s not persuading drivers out of their cars. As we did with tobacco we must do with cars, continue to tell people it’s not good to use a car for every journey but we need to start restricting access, parking and raise prices.
When governments crunched the numbers, smoking was costing the NHS more than it was raking in tobacco tax. If we can start boiling it down to ‘value for money’ then the argument and the culture shift will start.
So what measures do you introduce to start making the shift?
I realise it all sounds very radical, but these are measures employed in other parts of the world.
We’ll know the shift has happened when we can say some of the following.
This piece was written in June 2013 for the NI Greenways Website]]>
The equipment was at hand for any youngster with a sense of competition and adventure. Cars were an aspiration but every house had a bicycle. There was no specialist ‘pitch’, no entry fee to spectate, if you wanted to watch a bike race chances are one passed by your door several times a year.
When the barriers to entry are as low as this you tap the widest possible gene pool.
Great sporting champions sprang up from the most inauspicious circumstances. Coppi, Kelly and Hinault all came from poor farming backgrounds. They picked cycling up off the ground because it was there to be picked up.
However, over the past 20 years the sport of cycling has become increasingly dynastic sport. Mathieu van der Poel, Nicholas Roche, Axel Merckx, Dan Martin, Andy Schlek – the list goes on. Cyclists with ‘pedegree’.
The link working class, lower income communities had with the bicycle has been severed. The bicycle is seen as an embarrassment by the working class – a signifier of low status.
The opportunities to cycle to and from school have been eroded. Cycling as an activity at school has disappeared and access to the sport increasingly remote and expensive.
Consequently, the most talented cyclists in the country are currently sitting out their childhoods on the subs bench at their local football club.
They’ll never know.
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