Navan Cycling Scheme can deliver a ‘more accessible town’ - Cllrs told

The proposed Navan Cycle Scheme will deliver a more accessible town, making Navan a better place to live, work and visit that's according to a presentation of the project at a recent Navan Council meeting.

The scheme, part of the Navan 2030 Project, will include the construction of a cycle lane along the Dublin Road from St. Martha’s Bridge to the Circular Road.

Further phases would involve extending the cycleway out as far as Woodies on the Kells Road and a cycleway on Flowerhill.

The creation of additional open space at the junction of the Dublin Road and Academy Street including a seating area and the provision of cycle racks has also been proposed.

New footpaths and controlled crossings points for both cyclists and pedestrians will also be installed along the route.

Meanwhile, the existing right-turn lane to enter the Maxol Riverside filling station will be removed and some upgrade works will also be carried out along Academy Street.

Engineer Cormac Ross told the meeting that The Trim Road Scheme was at detailed design and ready to go to tender on construction.

Designs for the section on Circular Road are underway with plans to link up with the new bridge that will bring cyclists on to Convent Road.

The St Martha's Bridge to Circular Road scheme is due to start construction in early 2024. The council are also in the process of finishing a scheme on the R147 to N51 that links up with Woodies back to Flowerhill. Subject to planning approval that route will start construction in late 2024.

The engineer went on to tell the meeting that the Flowerhill Scheme is currently at the 'optioneering' stage. The route will link up with the upgrade of the roundabout cycling and pedestrian facilities tying in with the N51 Slane/Nobber Road. The route follows to Flowerhill on to the Poolboy Bridge and back over to connect with the New Bridge. Construction is envisaged for this in the latter part of 2025.

Cllr Eddie Fennessy welcomed the progress. He said:

"It's good to see this section of the cycle scheme closer to delivery. It forms an important part of the overall cycle network. When completed it will open the scheme up to further expansion and connectivity options. From a safety perspective the design of this section makes good use of available space, the area will be shared equally by pedestrians' cyclists and motorists and common dangers faced by road users will be greatly reduced."

Fine Gael councillor Yemi Adenuga raised concerns that the scheme didn't connect to key locations like the rugby club or Ard Ri NS. She also had queries in relation to how the different routes would be linked in order to make the experience accessible and convenient for cyclists. Cllr Adenuga also asked if there would be the provision of bike repair stations and bicycle racks to support the infrastructure.

Engineer Cormac Ross explained that details such as bike repair stations would be out of the scope for this scheme but would be part of the overall picture. He added that as part of the Navan 2030 Scheme, council officials would be considering several locations for providing bicycle parking and bicycle repair and during the design process a lot more detail would be undertaken. He added that the continuation from one cycle route to the next would be seamless.

Aontú Cllr Emer Tóibín raised concerns that there was no cycling infrastructure on the Ratholdren Road.

"I'm surprised that the NTA and the council didn't work on the Rathholdren Road earlier in the scheme," she said.

"The Kingscourt greenway is coming into Navan and there is a big gap in infrastructure with the rest of the proposed routes." To maximise Navan's people's ability to get on to the Greenway it would have made sense to include that route in the earlier stages.

"That area is highly populated, there are a lot of housing estates, and a lot of people won't cycle because it's so busy with cars," she added.

A council official responded saying the primary focus was linking routes back into the town centre as well as with the greenways, the Boyne Greenway out to Oldbridge and also with the Navan Kingscourt scheme that is under construction. They said future applications could identify gaps in project and take other areas into consideration.

A Recommendation to proceed without any variation to the scheme was proposed by Cllr Emer Tóibín and seconded by Cllr Yemi Adenuga.