Active Travel Towns - Smarter Travel

Cavan Town and Environs Walking and Cycling Strategy January 2012 7
4 Existing Walking and Cycling Network
As demonstrated in the previous section, walking and cycling currently occupy a very low modal share for
travel to work and school within the town at 15% and 1% respectively. This is despite the fact that 47% of
journeys to work and school are less than 5km in length, a distance which could be covered by foot in under
an hour and in less than thirty minutes by a cyclist depending on the terrain.
Like all urban centres, Cavan has a comprehensive network of footpaths in and around the town centre,
however, it is when you leave the town centre and approach the outer extents of the town, particularly along
the regional approach roads, that accessibility and permeability become worse with footpaths being provided
in short, discontinuous sections.
Progress has been made in this regard in recent years as more and
more footpaths have been established on the connector routes
feeding into the town, some of these routes can be seen in Figure 4.2
below. There are also two designated Slí na Sláinte routes which
have been established in the northern part of the town which are 1km
and 2km respectively in length and are directly targeted at recreational
walkers in the area. The first on-road cycle lanes in the town have
been established in the past year along the Dublin Road linking both
inbound and outbound cyclists with the R935 and N3 approach to the
town.
Cavan County council have been very proactive in recent years in providing both, new walking and cycling
infrastructure and renewing existing infrastructure when funding has become available.
The Cavan Town Eastern Access Road is currently under construction which will link the existing Dublin Road
with the local road network just east of the town centre and will remove a significant proportion of the existing
traffic off the town’s streets. This road will also have walking and cycling facilities incorporated from the outset
and will mean no retrofitting of the route will be required in future. Cavan County Council are committed to
continuing this approach in future where all road users will be incorporated on all new road construction so as
to avoid the inconvenience and cost of retrofitting facilities.
Figure 4.1: Location of Bicycle Stands in Cavan Town
As part of a previous smarter travel funding scheme
from which Cavan benefitted in 2011, six bicycle
shelters were established within the Town, the locations
of which can be seen in the adjacent Figure 4.1. These
locations are, from top to bottom of Figure 4.1:
1. Con Smith Park and Playground;
2. Cavan Sports and Leisure Complex;
3. Courthouse / Cavan County Council;
4. Market Square – Town Centre;
5. Tullacmongan Rosource Centre, Football Pitches
and Playground; and
6. Green Lough Park
A map of the infrastructural improvements carried out in
recent years as outlined below in the below Figure 4.2: