Dublin City Council and South Dublin County Council have been rolling out a greenway along the Dodder river for the past few years, and it has been proving quite popular. I think Fingal (and the city) council could do something similar for the Tolka.

A big advantage of a greenway on the Blanchardstown stretch of the Tolka would be that you could link the homes and businesses along the river, including the hospital and technical university, with the existing greenway along the canal. People would be able to avoid the busy N3 and the village, and some of the other car choked roads in the area to get places.

To reach the (canal) greenway from the hospital at present you have to take a circuitous route and mix with the traffic. I used my bicycle camera earlier this week to explore an alternative route, starting from the new river road and reaching the hospital by following a pa5 by the river. You can see the results in the YouTube video embedded below:

If greenways connect, you get a more useful network. If I do get elected next month, I will be looking to get these footpaths upgraded so that cyclists, walkers and runners can share them, and they can become a useful alternative.

Building on that, we can open a network of greenways in the area, extending up the river to the border with Meath, and beyond.