TRANSPORT MINISTER PASCHAL Donohoe has announced that €25.93 million will be spent improving transport in Dublin and surrounding counties.

The money will be distributed between 109 projects within the greater Dublin area, in conjunction with Kildare, Meath and Wicklow County Councils.

Provision is also being made for projects that will encourage students at DCU and UCD to take the bus or to cycle to and from campus.

The projects include improvements on bus, cycle and pedestrian routes, revisions to traffic management systems and footpath upgrades and extensions.

In Dublin city a number of projects aimed at alleviating congestion have been identified. They include interventions to reduce bus delays and including traffic light priority; the construction of wider bus lanes on the Chapelizod Bypass on on N4 route; and funds for the city centre to Terenure route, targeting the Rathmines/Rathgar corridor.

Donohoe said that thanks to the economic recovery more people are back at work, leading to greater congestion on the roads. He said the Government is trying to eliminate bottlenecks and make public transport “an attractive option” in order to combat this.

This funding prioritises these, and other, areas and I am confident that as these projects progress they will make a big considerable difference to the commuters and road users in the affected areas.

In the Dublin area, key projects include:

• The completion of the removal of the Cat and Cage bottleneck on the Swords Road Quality Bus Corridor;
• Commencement of construction of the “missing link” on the Dollymount – Sutton pedestrian and cycle route;
• The reconfiguration of the Kilmainham Gaol Environs to accommodate significantly more capacity for coaches, bicycles, pedestrians and tourists within an enhanced public realm;
• Completion of Traffic Management changes to accommodate extra buses using Pearse Street;
• Completion of a new bus and cycle outbound contraflow on the section of Camden Street Upper between its junctions with Harcourt Road and Charlotte Way;
• Design of new sections of the Strategic Cycle Network for Dublin (to be built in 2016 and following years), including Ranelagh Corridor and FairviewAmiens Corridor, the two busiest radial cycle corridors in the region.

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Outside of Dublin city, funding will be used to improve bus, cycle and pedestrian networks in the growing suburbs of Swords, Blanchardstown, Tallaght, Bray and other urban centres.

Other projects for construction within the Greater Dublin Area include:

• Completion of the Frascati Road (Blackrock Bypass) cycle route;
• Cycle track improvements along the N11, including safety works at the Johnstown Road junction;
• Cycle route upgrade along Old Blessington Road from Main Street Tallaght to the M50;
• Completion of the missing cycle link from Palmerstown to Chapelizod along the Galway Road;
• Completion of the Ashbourne Main Street cycle/pedestrian project;
• Construction of the Bray Strand Road cycle route along the seafront;
• Trial re-configuration of the Walkinstown Roundabout, to make it safer, easier to use, more reliable and more attractive for all road users and for the locality; 
• Construction of revised junctions in Lucan and Scholarstown along strategic cycle routes.

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