Dublin – kerb cuts and footpath dishing

send it to their Roads department I’d say, and then send it to every City Councillor you can find, especially those on their Transport committe. It is a transport issue as far as I’m concerned.

CTR:

I’d send it to the City Manager, let him delegate it down to the appropriate dept.

I was under the impression that quite a lot of work had been done on improving kerb accessibility, although I did have the suspicion that no systematic force was at work, rather kerb dishing was being included as one element of the various ‘precinct improvements’ as they rolled out here and there.

I don’t know if you’ve been dipping into the ‘Malton, then & now’ thread, but it’s interesting how Malton invariably depicted an immaculate 25mm, ‘universal accessibility’ kerb, in his 18th century prints of Dublin, when the reality was probably a mud fest punctuated by great steaming piles of horse dung.

On a related topic, I have a thing about the written instructions various local authorities deploy at hazardous junctions. Invariably, you’re a third of the way across the junction when the roar of engins prompt you to urgently assess the distance to the nearest on-coming vehicle, at which point, the only written instruction in view is both upside down and giving you the wrong information! Why can’t they write these instructions the right way round and somewhere closer to your probable field of vision?

That doesn’t look like Dublin. London, perhaps?

As far as I recall, there was a bit of a drive a few years ago – late 1990s or so – to dish kerbs in the city, but it was never a comprehensive programme. And you’re spot on, CTR, re Temple Bar. I cycle through on the cobbles most days (to avoid the glut of traffic lights on Westmoreland Street / O’Connell Bridge- it can take 10 minutes to get from Grafton St to O’Connell St that way) and they’re terrible for riding (cheaply relaid during the ‘improvement’ works- Devin posted on the subject here), but I can only imagine what they’re like in a chair. And the footpaths are often so narrow you’ve no choice except the roadway.

What would be your preference- dished kerbs or raised platforms across junction mouths? I like the latter as they visibly prioritise pedestrian movement over turning cars. Obviously they’re not appropriate at every junction, but they’d work at more than you might think. So it inconveniences cars in the city centre? Boo hoo. They’ll get over it. And every driver is a footpath user at some stage. These are streets, not roads.

Also, I think DCC is currently preparing a policy or strategy (or ‘discussion document’ :rolleyes:) on pedestrians and accessibility in the city centre. If I can find the details tomorrow, I’ll post them up.

Trinity have a site notice up at the moment to put some flat stone ‘paths’ across the cobbled expance of Parliament Square, which is apparently the name of that front square between the chapel and the exam hall. I’m ashamed to say I never noticed that this obvious deficiency existed here.

I like that raised junction idea as an alternative to dishing, both for the slight traffic taming properties and because, sometimes, too much dishing in tight locations can present it’s own hazard to the sight impaired, an area I’m a bit familiar with.

London, well spotted ctesiphon. They have some here too, but it’s in the UK that I get cought out. It feels abroad, so I’m expecting all the normal traffic conditions to be the opposite, but they’re not . The logical thing would be to stop on the kerb and take stock, but that’s another one of those thoughts that only enters the head a third of the way across.

@ctesiphon wrote:

I think DCC is currently preparing a policy or strategy (or ‘discussion document’ :rolleyes:) on pedestrians and accessibility in the city centre. If I can find the details tomorrow, I’ll post them up.

Yes its called Access Dublin

accessdublin.ie

From what I have read so far..its well intentioned but I have a feeling we are going to need a lot more galvanised steel poles about town 😡

Thanks Stephen. I had a link saved in work to the consultation phase, but when I tried it this morning the link was dead. The link you posted would seem to be the result of that process. Time for a detailed look, methinks.

gunter-
Looking at your photo again, I see a bus stop in the distance, but I swear I didn’t (couldn’t) see it last night!

@gunter wrote:

I like that raised junction idea as an alternative to dishing, both for the slight traffic taming properties and because, sometimes, too much dishing in tight locations can present it’s own hazard to the sight impaired, an area I’m a bit familiar with.

That’s it exactly, but not only for the visually impaired. As someone who has had lumbar neuro-surgery in recent years, I can attest to the problems of walking on footpaths that slope across the line of movement. When doctor’s orders dictate walking on an even surface, a lateral slope of just a couple of degrees can be quite a significant deviation.

Anyway, this isn’t a blog, so I’ll keep the personal sob stories for my Live Journal. 😉