St. Mary’s Road, Dundalk is one of the most elegant wide streets in town with old red brick houses along one side and a heritage stone wall on the opposite. Most of the houses have a Conservation Order on them.
4 years ago the Marist College built a brand new school, as part of the remit bicycle lanes were added to the street, even though the footpath was wide enough to encompass them.
As a resident of St. Mary's Road we had to put up with the new lanes because the school could not be completed. We were reassured that they could be reviewed in the future.
To date none of the students or others use this bicycle lane. Our problem is that the whole other side of the street has been taken over by a bicycle lane with bollards that’s rarely or ever used and we have no parking on this side.
Many residents have complained about this problem. We’re not against cycle lanes but object to the design of the existing ones, which could be accommodated on the extremely wide footpath.