Safe Routes To School- St Lorcan's and St Brigid's
Work has been done at The Oval in Palmerstown in relation to the Safe Routes To School programme. The work done on this road services both St Brigid’s and St Lorcan’s primary schools in Palmerstown. The idea behind these works were to calm traffic around school zones and provide safe routes to school commuters to actively engage in active travel.
The scope of the works included Woodfarm Drive/Turret Road Junction, Palmerston Avenue/The Oval Junction, Palmerston Drive/The Oval Junction and Manor Park/Woodfarm Avenue Junction.
Benefits of scheme:
- With The Oval connecting two schools, these measures are important to ensure child safety is paramount by reducing the car numbers on this road during school commutes.
- Improves access routes to these schools for students who opt to travel by walking, cycling etc.
Survey:
A survey was conducted amongst students at St Lorcan’s and St Brigids and the parents of these students relating to transport modes to school and opinions on nearby infrastructure. The results of these surveys were as follows:
- The most popular form of travel for St Lorcan’s students was car (53%), in comparison one of the least popular was cycling (7%).
- In St Brigid’s, the most popular form of transport was similarly car (53%) while only 3% of students chose to cycle.
- In terms of ‘How you wish to travel to school’, the most popular results were walking and cycling in both schools. In St Brigid’s, 36% of participants answered walk and in St Lorcan’s 34% of participants answered walk.
- Some general feedback recorded from these two surveys included: In St Lorcan’s there is strong active mobility culture within the school. A relatively large number of older students cycle (between 7-10%). In St Brigid’s there is strong support for School Zone treatments such as bollards to reduce parking on curb, improvements to pedestrian crossings, and traffic calming measures.
Works completed near the schools at Palmerstown referencing feedback from the consultation include:
- Road markings to indicate the School Zone
- Ramps
- Bollards
- New kerbs, signage and crossings
Park and Stride
Park and Stride is an initiative that coincides with the works done in the Safe Routes To School scheme. The initiative involves parking up to a 10-minute walk away from the school and walking the rest of the way. Park and Stride reduces traffic congestion at the front of school which in turn reduces the risk of accidents and improves air quality. It also frees up space and creates a calmer space at the front of school for all students.
The consultation for this project was open from 22/04/2022 to 27/05/2022 and has now been closed but can be viewed here