Re: Re: developments in cork
@jungle wrote:
On the NRR, I think it splits into two sections – between the Limerick and Dublin roads and from the Limerick road to Ballincollig. The first of these is needed sooner. At the moment traffic from the Limerick road is feeding into the city centre or small suburban roads regardless of its destination. It should be linked in to the existing ring road network and also have easier access to the port. The second strikes me as something of a vanity project. I can’t imagine the traffic volumes from the Limerick road towards West Cork and Ballincollig require a road like that proposed yet. In the medium term, a decent link road from the old Blarney Road (Kerry Pike Road) to the Lee Road would suffice.
I have to stronly disagree with you on this one, jungle. As it stands, traffic from west Cork, Kerry, Ballincollig, Ovens and the southern suburbs of the city must travel through the city centre or Sunday’s Well to get access to the northdside of the city, North county Cork, Limerick etc (unless they use completely inadequate country lanes between Macroom and Blarney). The amount of heavy goods vehicles using Shanakiel for example is unsustainable and the road network in the area is entirely unsuitable for this purpose. Likewise the morning and evening rush hour traffic on the country roads around Kerrypike, Inniscara, Tower etc is dangerous as well as stressful for those stuck in it or living near it.
The completion of the ring road around the city is essential to reignite the stagnated growth of the north and west sides of the city, and to divert the thousands of vehicles that use other less suitable routes every day. My only concern is that those involved in planning and selecting the route do not repeat the mistakes made in Dublin by choosing a route too close to the city. Also, for the road to fulfil its purpose, the designers should only put interchanges where absolutely necessary, and avoid building too many link roads.
As for the airport… I’d agree that segregating departing traffic will cause some confusion, but I can see where they’re coming from. Now that the exams are over in the schools, the chaos is really going to start. The major problem this time of year is congestion – primarily with charter flights. If they can get those crowds out of the old terminal then it might just cope with another summer peak season. Also, any teething problems that become apparent in the immediate aftermath of commencing operations in the new terminal could be resolved before the scheduled airlines move operations; thus avoiding pissing off the best clients!
Compared to last summer, Ryanair and Aer Lingus now have extra planes based in Cork so it will be even more chock-a-block.
