{"id":433420,"date":"2026-02-19T03:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T03:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/433420\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T03:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T03:27:12","slug":"safety-work-to-be-carried-out-on-north-korean-style-cycle-lane-after-complaints-of-a-pilot-scheme-that-has-no-pilot-cycling-news-bike-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/433420\/","title":{"rendered":"Safety work to be carried out on “North Korean style” cycle lane after complaints of a “pilot scheme that has no pilot” – Cycling News | Bike Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A controversial \u201cRoad to Nowhere\u201d cycle lane that has been the subject of protest marches and likened to North Korea is to be upgraded.<\/p>\n

The 3km long lane on the R448 connects the villages of Moone and Timolin in South Kildare and has been criticised for its design flaws and the narrowing of the road for vehicles. A recent safety audit found the project suffered from \u201cpoor lighting, inadequate signage and misalignment of the cycle route.\u201d The Irish Cycling Campaign raised concerns over the proposal during the project\u2019s consultation and local cycling clubs have warned the new junction layout would deter cyclists from using the infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Athy Town Councillor Aoife Breslin raised the cycle lane at a recent meeting, demanding a meeting with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the government agency responsible for the cycle lane, the Kildare Nationalist reported<\/a>. Other councillors said they had \u201clost complete confidence\u201d in TII. It was not confirmed what specific amendments to the infrastructure will be made, but council officials said traffic cones would be deployed, further reducing the road width when the work gets underway next month.<\/p>\n

> \u201cNorth Korean style\u201d cycle lane project that locals say has \u201cno purpose\u201d blamed for more than 40 incidents<\/a><\/p>\n

A central pillar of the protests last summer<\/a> was the suggestion that the road narrowing made the R448 a \u201cdeath trap\u201d and would not enable two combine harvesters to pass one another. In November, a residents\u2019 association calling for the cycle lane\u2019s removal claimed that more than 40 road incidents had occurred since the lane\u2019s construction, including drivers hitting the cycle lane kerb and puncturing, cars breaking down, and instances of drivers not having a hard shoulder on which to pull over. Teachta D\u00e1la (Member of Parliament) Mark Hall recently said more than 90 incidents occurred since the lane\u2019s installation was completed, though it is not clear what was being measured as an incident.<\/p>\n

\"KildareKildare R448 cycle lane protest (Image Credit: The Road to Nowhere\/Facebook)<\/p>\n

In a statement made prior to the latest safety works being confirmed, TII said that the scheme was designed \u201cin line with all relevant standards and has already undergone independent road safety audits.\u201d They added that the project \u201cwent through a statutory process of the Road Traffic Act, which included a public consultation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news of the cycle lane upgrade coincides with the route unveiling of the R\u00e1s Tailteann, Ireland\u2019s most prestigious cycling stage race. The five day event, running from the 20th to the 24th May, will use the R448 on the final stage which will start in Carlow before travelling north for a circuit finish in Dunboyne. The race, which uses rolling road closures, is not expected to make use of the cycle lane though a R\u00e1s spokesperson did not respond to the Kildare Nationalist\u2019s request for comment seeking to clarify the route.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A controversial \u201cRoad to Nowhere\u201d cycle lane that has been the subject of protest marches and likened to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-433420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}