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An order halting works on the controversial Strand Road cycleway in Sandymount has been issued by the High Court.
Traffic on Strand Road was due to be reduced to one way from Monday to facilitate the opening of a new two-way cycle route later in the month, for a six month trial.
Independent councillor Mannix Flynn and Sandymount resident Peter Carvill last Monday secured High Court permission to take judicial review proceedings against Dublin City Council’s plans to restrict traffic as far as the Merrion Gates to a single outbound lane with the other lane repurposed as a two-way cycle track.
On Friday morning Mr Justice Charles Meenan approved their application to put a stay on the work pending the hearing of the judicial review proceedings on April 27th.
In their judicial review proceedings Mr Carvill, of the Serpentine Avenue, Tritonville and Claremont Roads group, and Mr Flynn are seeking declarations that the council’s plans are “unlawful” and in breach of European Union environmental directives.
Last Friday Mr Flynn applied to An Bord Pleanála for a declaration that the city council requires planning permission for the cycle path.
The application to An Bord Pleanála maintains that the two-way cycle track would be less Covid-compliant than the existing system where cyclists travel on the opposite side of the road to each other as part of general traffic.
The two-way track would mean cyclists were only one metre apart, the submission, made by Farry Town Planning Ltd on behalf of Mr Flynn states. “This would in our opinion facilitate the transmission of air-borne droplets to a greater degree than exists under the present layout,” it said.
“We believe that this proposal would increase transmission rates.”
The submission also noted that the cyclists in computer generated image of the track “are not wearing a face covering of any description”.
While the council maintains the cycle path is being implemented as a Covid-19 mobility measure, Mr Flynn’s submission states “it is our opinion that the proposed development, although presented as a response to Covid-19, actually forms part of a wider network”. It also references “dubious links between this project and the Covid-19 pandemic”.
The submission claims the environmental implications of the removal of the traffic lane had not been adequately assessed and it says it does not accept the council intends to project to be a temporary measure.
“In the absence of concrete and reliable proposals which would ensure that the project would crease after the initial test period, it would be safe to assume that this arrangement will become permanent.”
The council has maintained the cycle path is exempt from requiring planning permission. The project was in line with Government advice to implement walking and cycling schemes during the Covid-19 pandemic, it said.
The council had engaged independent consultants who confirmed there was no requirement for environmental assessments which could trigger an application to An Bord Pleanála, it said.