Tralee to Listowel Greenway – Public consultation on proposed options

Posted on By Kerry on cycling

The project to connect the Tralee and Listowel sections of greenway has now moved into the Option Selection Phase and the Project Team will be holding the next Public Consultation between September 10th and October 11th 2024  to present the Proposed Options for the Project . The Project Team would like to hear your views in relation to the Proposed Options.

Kerry County Council will hold two public information events as follows:

  • Ballyroe Heights Hotel, Tralee – Tuesday 10th September 2024 from 3pm to 8pm.
  • Listowel Arms Hotel, Listowel – Wednesday 11th September 2024 from 3pm to 8pm.

Members of the Project Team will be available to discuss with you the Project, the Proposed Options, and the next steps in the development of the Project .

An online consultation process will commence on the Kerry County Council Consultations Portal https://consult.kerrycoco.ie/browse  on Tuesday 10th September 2024, running until Friday 11th October 2024.

The online consultation portal will provide drawings of the Proposed Options, and an online feedback form where submissions can be made to the Project Team.

Submissions may also be made by post to: Tralee to Listowel Greenway, Kerry National Roads Office, Kerry County Council, The Island Centre, Castleisland, Freepost FKY 7494, Co. Kerry, V92 T0CP.

Or by Email to: tlgreenway@kerrycoco.ie

Nature Cycle: Tralee to Fenit Greenway

Posted on By Kerry on cycling

National Bike Week takes place from Saturday 11th to Sunday 19th May) and National Biodiversity Week from Friday 17th to Sunday 26th May, given that they overlap this weekend Kerry Cycling Campaign will be hosting a Nature Cycle along the Tralee to Fenit Greenway where participants can discover some of the wild plants and habitats along this rich ecological corridor.

The event will be led by local experts Cathy Eastman of Biodiversity Partners and Niamh Ní Dhúill of Natural Wild Gardens/Transition Kerry

This free event is suitable for all ages and abilities and will take place from 11am to 1pm on Saturday 18th of May, the meeting point will be the Greenway entrance – Opposite Tralee Train Station

This event is presented with the support of the Irish Environmental Network (IEN) and Irish Cycling Campaign

Facebook event
Biodiversity Week event

Together we Cycle

Posted on By Kerry on cycling

A few years back we screened Why we cycle a film which explored the effects of cycling, on people, societies, and cities, well the team are back with a new film Together we cycle which investigates the critical events that led to the revival of the Dutch cycling culture.

As part of National Bike Week (which runs from the 13th to 21st of May) the Kerry Cycling Campaign have teamed up with Transition Kerry to screen this film in Tralee, Killarney, Listowel and Dingle.

The film Together we cycle investigates the critical events that led to the revival of the Dutch cycling culture. Many people think that cycling in the Netherlands is a natural phenomenon. However, until the 1970s the development of mobility in the Netherlands followed trends across the globe. The bicycle had had its day, and the future belonged to the car. The only thing that had to be done was to adapt cities to the influx of cars.

Then Dutch society took a different turn. Against all odds, people kept on cycling.

There is no easy answer to the question why this happened in the Netherlands. There are many factors, events and circumstances that worked together, both socially and policy-wise. In Together we cycle, key players tell the story of the bumpy road which led to the current state. Where cycling is an obvious choice for most citizens.

Screenings

Tralee/Trálí

Tuesday 16th May – Kerry County Museum – 7pm

Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis

Tuesday 16th May – An Díseart – 7pm

Listowel/Lios Tuathail

Wednesday 17th May – St. John’s Theatre – 8pm

Killarney/Cill Airne

Wednesday 17th May – Great Southern Hotel – 7pm

Entry free/ Saor in aisce

Be sure to check out the other Bike Week events happening throughout Kerry

Thanks to Transport for Ireland and Kerry County Council for their support in this screenings, and to the wonderful venues for facilitating the screenings.

Renewed Call to Change Our Streets

Posted on By Kerry on cycling


Kerry Cycling Campaign and Cyclist.ie renew calls on the Irish government and Kerry County Council to urgently follow the lead of other European governments to allocate more space to active travel measures. These measures include allocating more space for active travel and controlling vehicle speed by introducing 30 km/hr speed limits in built up areas .


Speaking on behalf of Kerry Cycling Campaign, Anluan Dunne said: “we have written to KCC Chief Executive, Moira Murrell and to all elected representatives to request that space on our county’s streets be made for people who walk and cycle. A once in a lifetime opportunity exists to make our towns nicer to live and work in by reducing the number of cars and making it easier to walk and cycle. All at minimal cost to the Council and with really positive outcomes for people and businesses alike”


Recent research from Transport for London showed that people who cycle spend on average 40% more in their local shops than motorists. They also visit local shops more frequently and visit more than one shop in a single trip than motorists.


Keith Phelan of Kerry Cycling Campaign said: “cycling is part of the solution to the major economic difficulties that now face our local shops and businesses. We want to encourage people back to our town centres to have a coffee, to shop and buy their groceries. We don’t want soulless, hollowed out towns akin to out of town shopping centres. Vibrant, family friendly streets which are a destination in their own right is the goal. Decades of car-centric policies have failed our towns. There were a large number of shop closures pre Covid-19 which proves the old way was not working”


On Saturday 9 May, the UK transport secretary Grant Shapps announced a national plan to support ‘active transport’ (walking and cycling) during and after the Covid-19 restrictions. The Transport Secretary’s action follows similar action by European governments and the release on 8 May of WHO guidance for local authorities – Strengthening Preparedness for COVID-19 in Cities and Urban Settings – in which it recommends the “promotion of safe active mobility (e.g. walking and cycling)”.


As a consequence of the Covid 19 shut-down, recent weeks have seen a complete reversal of numbers driving versus numbers walking and cycling. However, from Monday, May 18th business will begin to open on a phased basis and traffic will increase.

Dublin City Council is, to date, the only Irish local authority implementing substantial traffic measures to improve safety for people cycling and walking during the pandemic. Kerry Cycling Campaign cautiously welcome the words of Shane Ross, Minster for Transport, Tourism and Sport in the Dáil in the past week, when he stated that the National Transport Authority (NTA) would work with local authorities in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford to develop a Covid mobility framework.

It is with some disappointment that large regional towns such as Tralee, Killarney, Ennis, Sligo and Letterkenny were not referred to by Minister Ross.

Speaking on behalf of Cyclist.ie and its 20 plus member organisations across Ireland, National Cycling Coordinator, Dr. Damien Ó Tuama, said that “Initially the required segregated space can be secured quickly and cheaply by reallocating road space using a combination of wands, bollards, orcas and planters”. Mr O’Tuama stated that “In addition other measures were needed and cyclist.ie would be happy to engage with government to discuss these. However, the immediate priorities are more space and less speed.”

Kerry Cycling Campaign’s Anluan Dunne spoke to Radio Kerry about how public spaces in towns and villages need to be re-imagined in the wake of the pandemic.

<a href="https://media.radiokerry.ie/upload/radiokerry/audio/2020.05.20_covid.mp3">https://media.radiokerry.ie/upload/radiokerry/audio/2020.05.20_covid.mp3</a>

Covid-19: Change Our Streets Campaign

Posted on By Kerry on cycling

Kerry Cycling Campaign calls on Kerry County Council and councillors to urgently ‘Change Our Streets’ by reallocating road space to people walking and cycling. We need to reduce hazards to help people maintain social or physical distancing measures during the Covid-19 emergency.

Communication has been made to all Kerry County Councillors and the Chief Executive of Kerry County Council Moira Murrell.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus has led to a huge increase in people cycling and walking. A growing number of countries around the world are temporarily reallocating road space from motor vehicles to people on foot and on bikes. Both to keep essential workers moving and to enable residents in lockdown to stay healthy and active while socially distancing.

“We need to ensure our county is safe for people walking or cycling to shops or work, for people exercising with 2 km of their homes and especially people with prams or wheelchairs. Cities and towns all over the world are trialing changes to roads and streets, some of which may be useful after the pandemic. We can Change Our Streets in Kerry with low-cost quick-wins.”

Keith Phelan, Kerry Cycling Campaign

Kerry Cycling Campaign has written to Kerry County Council and councillors to request the following changes:

  • Cones to widen footpaths in town/village centres or outside shops/queue areas
  • Temporary use of cones or bollards to create quietways to stop through traffic in housing estates and make roads for play/exercise
  • Repurposing of full lanes to cycle lanes
  • Temporary road pedestrianisation
  • Signs indicating improved pedestrian priority at junctions, reducing risk of transmission via crossing buttons.

“We need to put in place emergency measures to help people safely travel by foot or by bike for essential errands, to travel to work or for exercise. More people than ever are walking and cycling during this coronavirus pandemic. To Change Our Streets is to make our streets safer now, and the future. We have contacted our public representatives and KCC Chief Executive Moira Murrell to ask them to act”

Anluan Dunne, Kerry Cycling Campaign

Given recent statements by Minister for Health, Simon Harris, we know that movement restrictions and social distancing measures will remain in place until a vaccine is developed. As such, it must be easy and tolerable for people to comply. If we Change Our Streets, the environment of our cities, towns and villages will help compliance to public health measures. As Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, says: “Move quickly; speed trumps perfection.

Martina Callanan, board member of Cyclist.ie – the Irish Cycling Advocacy Network

Dublin City Council is implementing measures in Ranelagh, Rathmines, Stonybatter, Dorset St and Capel St by removing loading bays and parking spaces by placing orcas and bollards. It is time to see the same positive action taken in the towns and villages of Co Kerry.

Kerry Cycling Campaign call for motorists to slow down

Posted on By Kerry on cycling

Kerry Cycling Campaign have called for motorists to slow down and take more care following a horrific month of road deaths and injuries. With so many people out walking and cycling within 2 kilometers of their homes motorists are asked to slow down and be careful. The dramatic reduction in traffic volumes has resulted in some drivers increasing their speed – particularly in urban areas.

Anluan Dunne speaking of the Kerry Cycling Campaign said “Quite simply drivers need to slow down. We are calling on the Gardaí to step up enforcement across the county – especially in urban areas. More people are out walking and cycling and due to physical distancing they may have to step onto the road to avoid each other”


The Road Safety Authority and Gardaí are aware of the issue. Nationally the picture is grim with road deaths up 24% on last year.

Anluan continued “with no other cars to slow drivers down, and with the way our roads are designed, people feel like they have the space to speed up and take more risks. This behaviour is literally killing people. All the preparation and actions to help to flatten the Covid-19 curve is of little use if people don’t take care of each other out on the roads. Speeding drivers are putting people walking and cycling at risk of being patients in our emergency departments. ”

The call has been echoed by Professor John Crown of St Vincent’s Hospital Dublin who has called for speed limits to be lowered during the COVID-19 emergency. Nationally, the Love30 campaign is asking for 50 kmh limits to be reduced to 30 kmh in urban areas.

Globally, road crashes are the leading cause of death among young people aged 15-29, and the second leading cause of death worldwide among young people aged 5-14.

Anluan Dunne of the Kerry Cycling Campaign joined Deirdre Walsh on Radio Kerry’s Talkabout show to discuss the issues.

Lee Valley Trail extension anounced

Posted on By Kerry on cycling

AS work begins on the construction of the new 10km Tralee to Fenit Greenway, Kerry County Council has announced plans for the extension of an adjacent walking and cycling route along the coast of Tralee Bay which would connect with the greenway and provide a new leisure amenity for the area.

The council is proposing to extend an existing Lee Valley Trail which has been developed in recent years from Ballymullen to Ballyard and from The Basin to Cockleshell.

Plans are being developed to continue this coastal route – which forms part of the North Kerry Way – as far as Spa village. This would allow users to connect to the new greenway at the Spa at the rear of the Oyster Tavern.

Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin TD recently visited the walkway at the of end of Cockleshell Road and discussed with councillors and officials the proposal to continue the walkway to The Spa, a distance of approximately two kilometers.

Subject to funding and the agreement of local landowners, the walkway and cycleway, when completed, would allow users to travel along the coast to The Spa, cross the road in Spa village and join the Fenitgreenway to continue their journey on foot or by bicycle.

It would effectively provide a looped route to and from Tralee via the greenway and the coastal walkway/cycleway and ultimately extend to Ballyseedy wood.

Kerry County Council looks forward to the extension of the route at the earliest opportunity. Meanwhile preliminary work is underway on the new Tralee-Fenit Greenway along the route of the old railway line, following the receipt of €3m from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

Kerry Cycling Campaign welcomes new overtaking law.

Posted on By Kerry on cycling

Kerry Cycling Campaign welcomes the introduction by Minister Shane Ross of new laws designed to improve safety for people who cycle on Irish roads which come into force today (12th of November).

The new laws will focus specifically on motorists who overtake cyclists dangerously and will result in steeper penalties for drivers than the existing laws for dangerous overtaking.

The announcement comes as a result of a long, dedicated safety campaign by Wexford man Phil Skelton, whose Staying Alive at 1.5 campaign aimed to create a specific safe overtaking distance for cyclists. While Minister Ross’ original safe overtaking distance law was ultimately rejected by the Attorney General, the new Dangerous Overtaking of a Cyclist law is a compromise.

Like all road safety legislation enforcement is key. An Garda Síochána need the means and will to enforce. Greater resources both physical and digital may be needed.

Police forces in nearby jurisdictions, such as West Midlands Police in the UK, frequently run “Close Pass” operations where police officers on bicycles target drivers who overtake them too closely.

In addition to active policing operations, we hope the new legislation will result in Gardaí being more willing and able to accept video footage from cyclists who have been overtaken dangerously. Many people who cycle, especially those who commute by bike, have started recording their journeys on helmet- or bike-mounted cameras, usually as a result of frequent near-miss incidents.

Keith Phelan, Chairperson of Kerry Cycling Campaign, says: “The new overtaking law is a small step in the right direction. We want cycling to be safe, attractive, and normal for as many people as possible. The people this law seeks to protect are your children, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers going about their day and not just large groups of club cyclists. An Garda Síochána needs to be given the resources to enforce the rules of the road as part of reducing road danger.

“Anluan Dunne, of Kerry Cycling Campaign, says: “Improving driver behaviour is important, but it is only a small piece of the overall puzzle. We need a change in narrative from the media, from politicians and from the government to do away with commentary that pits drivers against cyclists in an adversarial way.

We are also in urgent need of improved cycling infrastructure which physically separates people on bikes from fast-moving motor traffic. Shane Ross and the Department of Transport are the only people who can provide the funding for such infrastructure. The allocation in the recent land transport budget was around 2% while the government’s own recommendation stated 10%. We are calling for more funding for cycling as a priority.”

Kerry’s first Critical Mass

Posted on By Kerry on cycling

In glorious weather around 60 cyclists took to the streets of Tralee on the last Friday of June as part of the first Kerry’s inaugural Critical Mass.

Critical Mass is a mass bicycle ride that takes place on the last Friday of each month in cities around the world, with further events planned for the last Friday of each month throughout the summer.

  • Photo © Tralee Today
  • Photo © Tralee Today
  • Photo © Tralee Today
  • Photo © Tralee Today
  • Photo © Tralee Today
  • Photo © Tralee Today
  • Photo © Tralee Today
  • Photo © Kerry Cycling
  • Photo © Kerry Cycling
  • Photo © Kerry Cycling
  • Photo © Kerry Cycling

Critical Mass

Posted on By Kerry on cycling

Cycling is more than transportation, it is transformation, do you want safer more vibrant streets and towns, an easy way to reduce carbon emissions all while keeping fit and healthy ?

Then get on you bike and celebrate Bike Week for a leisurely cycle around Tralee.

Meet up in the town square from 6pm for a 6.30pm departure for a leisurely cycle around town.

This event will will take place in during Bike Week and as far as we are aware this will be the first Critical Mass in Kerry.

What is Critical Mass?

Critical Mass is a mass bicycle ride that takes place on the last Friday of each month in cities around the world.


Everyone is invited!
No one is in charge!