06 Feb 2019
Posted by Lauren Beehan 
You can now have your say on more of the new bus corridors proposed in the BusConnects programme – the overhaul of Dublin’s bus network.
The BusConnects plan would see the city’s bus routes largely based around 16 dedicated Core Bus Corridors. These are key commuter routes where buses will have priority, with 230km of bus lanes and 200km of cycle lanes along them. The aim is to cut bus journey times by around 20-30 minutes and ease the growing traffic congestion in the city.
The second phase of the public consultation is now open, with six more corridors up for discussion. The NTA has published the ‘Emerging Preferred Routes’ for new corridors, outlining the roads they’re likely to use, but these aren’t yet set in stone. Four routes were already announced last November – you can read our round-up of those ones here.
The Emerging Preferred Routes (Phase 2)
Keep in mind that these are the preferred routes are for the new core bus corridors – the roads that will have priority bus lanes – rather than individual numbered bus routes. Several buses will serve each corridor, and some bus services will travel off the corridors to serve the surrounding areas.
Each would be in place in both directions along the routes below.
Liffey Valley to the city centre
This corridor will begin at a new terminus at Liffey Valley SC, proceed out to Coldcut Rd, and straight through Ballyfermot Rd to Sarsfield Rd. From there, it will use Grattan Crescent and Emmet Rd and then follow a straight line through Old Kilmainham, Mount Brown and James St to Christchurch. It will turn down Winetavern St to join the current bus layout on the quays.
Greenhills to city centre
This route would start at the junction of Belgard Square West and Cookstown Way near Tallaght Hospital, using Belgard Square West and North to the Belgard Rd. It would then go through the Tallaght Campus of the Technological University (formerly ITT) to join the Greenhills Rd.
There are plans then for significant changes to the Greenhills Rd between the Mayberry Rd jct and the Walkinstown R/A: the road would be realigned between Mayberry Rd and the M50, and then brought into Ballymount Ind Est via new link roads at Ballymount Ave and Calmount Ave. The bus corridor will follow this realigned Greenhills Rd.
It will then use Walkinstown Ave out to the Long Mile Rd, and proceed towards the city centre via Drimnagh Rd, Crumlin Rd, Dolphin’s Barn, Cork St and The Coombe. It then would take Dean St to join Patrick St and continue via Nicholas St to join the existing city bus layout at Christchurch Place.
Clondalkin to Drimnagh
This corridor would start on the New Nangor Rd at the Woodford Walk jct and use the New Nangor Rd as far as the Naas Rd. It would then continue along the Naas Rd, onto Walkinstown Ave to the Long Mile Rd, where it joins the Greenhills to city centre corridor (above).
Kimmage to city centre
The bus corridor would start on Kimmage Rd Lwr at the Terenure Rd West jct, proceeding down Kimmage Rd Lwr to Harold’s Cross Rd, over the canal to Clanbrassil St and straight up New St and Patrick St to Christchurch Place, merging with the Greenhills corridor at the Dean St jct.
The Kimmage to city centre cycle track would follow a different route at certain points due to road width constraints: between Hazelbrook Rd and Priory Rd instead of the Kimmage Rd, it would use a parallel route through Derravaragh Rd and Larkfield Grove. Then at Harold’s Cross, the cycle lane is proposed to go through the hospice entrance route to Greenmount Lane and join the canal route, with a new cycle bridge between Harold’s Cross and Portobello. It would then use Heytesbury St to access the city centre.
Rathfarnham to city centre
This corridor would start on Grange Rd at Nutgrove Ave and continue through Rathfarnham Rd to Terenure Cross. From there, it would take Terenure Rd East to Rathgar, Rathgar Rd to Rathmines Village, through Richmond St to the Grand Canal and into the city via the Camden St to George’s St route.
There are currently two options for the Rathfarnham cycle track on the Rathmines stretch: it could follow the same route as the bus corridor (which would mean making Rathmines Rd one-way for general traffic between Castlewood Ave and the canal), or it could take a new route through Charleville Rd and Wynnefield Rd across a newly built track to Leinster Square.
It would then pass by the back of the DIT Conservatory of Music, through the sports ground in front of St Mary’s College and Cathal Brugha Barracks to merge with the Kimmage to City Centre cycle track at the new cycle bridge over the canal.
Tallaght to Terenure
The route starts on the Tallaght Rd near the Spawell Complex close to the M50 roundabout. It would continue straight down Templeogue Rd through Templeogue Village to join the Rathfarnham corridor at Terenure Cross. (see above).
How will it affect general traffic?
Overall, the plan aims to make bus journeys faster and more frequent to cut congestion. For general traffic, there will be noticeable changes to the road layout along all the new corridors.
Several roads will be widened to facilitate new bus and cycle lanes. A number of junctions will be upgraded to give buses priority – which will include some ‘bus-only’ traffic lights – and a few roundabouts will change into junctions (notably, this would include several roundabouts around Belgard Square). Some turns will be banned, including several for drivers on Templeogue Rd at Terenure Cross, as well as both left turns from Dolphin’s Barn onto the SCR and a right-turn ban at the Emmet Rd/Tyrconnell Rd jct.
In this phase, there are several proposals for bigger changes, such as a major realignment of the Greenhills Rd, taking it into Ballymount Ind Est. Some stretches of road would be closed to general traffic and reserved for public transport and/or cyclists only, including Kimmage Rd Lwr (between Sundrive Rd and Harold’s Cross), Mount Brown (near St James’s Hospital), Kildare Rd (at the Clonard Rd jct) and Heytesbury St (at the Long Lane jct).
Others, such as Ballyfermot Rd (between Le Fanu Rd and Kylemore Rd) and Rathmines Rd (between Castlewood Ave and the Grand Canal) could be made one-way outbound, with inbound traffic taking different routes. You can read detailed traffic layout plans for your route in the information brochures here.
And it’s expected that around 180 on-street parking spaces will be lost (across the Phase 2 routes), but there will also be some new parking spaces, including off the SCR in Kilmainham.
How will it affect cyclists?
The six proposed corridors in this phase include 21km of new cycle lanes, and many junctions along the routes will be upgraded with cyclists in mind, including the Walkinstown R/A and the Coldcut Rd/Cloverhill Rd jct.
New cycle bridges would be built across the Grand Canal between Harold’s Cross and Portobello and over the Dodder in Rathfarnham. However, in cases where roads are very narrow, the proposed cycle tracks follow a different route to the bus corridors, notably on the Kimmage corridor (see above), as well as stretches of Rathfarnham Rd (where the cycle track diverts via Brookvale Downs and Springfield Ave) and the Walkinstown Rd/Crumlin Rd stretch of the Greenhills corridor (where the cycle track would be built on Bunting Rd, St Mary’s Rd and Kildare Rd).
Of particular interest to cyclists in this phase is the Rathfarnham route in Rathmines, where there are currently two options on the table: the cycle track could follow the bus corridor through the village, Richmond St and the Camden St route into the city, or follow a newly-built route to join the latter part of the Kimmage to City Centre cycle track at the Grand Canal (see above).
What are the other impacts?
In this phase of the scheme, approximately 665 properties could face losing a portion of their gardens or driveways to allow for road widening, with the majority of those on the Greenhills and Rathfarnham corridors. The NTA will talk directly to the owners of these properties over the coming weeks.
Around 290 trees will need to be removed for the works on these six corridors, but these are to be replaced, where possible, at the completion of the project.
When can I have my say?
Consultation on the plans for these six corridors has been extended to April 30th 2019. Full details are here.
The consultation for the Phase 1 corridors (Swords, Blanchardstown, Clongriffin and Lucan) has been extended to March 29th.
What’s next?
The preferred routes for the remaining six corridors will be published in Phase 3 in mid-February and the public consultation for those will run until the end of April. They are: Ballymun to City Centre, Finglas to Phibsborough, Bray to City Centre, Blackrock to Merrion, UCD/Ballsbridge to City Centre and Ringsend to City Centre.
The plans will then go to An Bord Pleanála. Construction is expected to start around 2021, with the project finished by 2027.
