Cork Transport
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Regardless of the environmental and visual impact of putting a railway line up the South Channel, surely it would be cheaper to just cut and cover along Washington St if you wanted to separate from traffic. You’d also get a nice straight run rather than having to deal with all the bends around Crosse’s Green.
Still at least someone is thinking about potential solutions. Since, we now have the Green Party and Cork Chamber of Commerce in favour of light rail in the city, maybe it’s time to ask Fine Gael and Labour their positions. Given that there’s an election coming up, it would be nice to see a bit of pressure on the government (and City Council for that matter).
I think we could do better than a tram… Dublin could have anyway. They are stilll subject to traffic and cause major trouble when the tracks are being laid. There’s no room to cater for large trams on streets and there isn’t enough to cater for large amounts of people. I’m not being funny or anything, but why don’t they just skip the whole tram thing and come up with something better, it needn’t be a metro or anything, but surely we can do better than a glorified silver bus.
What I’d like to see is a system where a light-rail network could be set up and then sections of it put into cut and cover tunnels later. It’s something they should look at in Dublin too. Once a few more lines are established, putting the line from Blackhall to Connolly underground would be an obvious step.
While it can appear a wasteful way of doing it, it does mean that a light rail system can be put in place much more quickly.
It’s how the developed the tram network in Brussels and they’ve just completed a similar project in The Hague to take the tram lines off the major shopping streets.
A good question from yesterday’s quondam Cork Examiner:
15 February 2007
Who’s to blame for killer roads?
ON yet another weekend of road casualties recently, three died in single-car night-time accidents where the vehicle had ‘gone out of control’.
Has any of the bodies appointed to oversee road safety examined the probability of these being associated with our inadequate road markings? Gaybo rattles-on, emotionally, about speed; others, more sensible, mention drink-driving; but no-one appears to consider the roads.
In recent years we have brought in a blanket speed-limit: national roads, 100km/h; regional roads, 80km/h.
Here in west Cork, we have the N71, long twisting sections, high hedges on both sides, no hard shoulder, no side markings — but, hey, it is a national road, let’s all go at 100km/h, the Government says it is safe — and who are we to argue with the Government?
We have a regional road from Skibbereen to Dunmanway, wide straight stretches, emergency hard shoulder, great visibility, but it’s only a regional road, so we must crawl at 80km/h.
We have a new feature appearing around the country — tarmac laid on top of old, unprepared surfaces.
In many cases, some of the new surface peels-off, leaving potholes of varying sizes and dips over old manhole and valve covers, but even worse are the ‘cliffs’ left on the edge of the road. I have measured some of them in my vicinity at 9 ins. If, in taking evasive action (a stray animal or such), a driver has to swerve to the left and drops one wheel into one of them, God only knows where he/she and the car will land.
We have a National Roads Authority which appears to have no authority.
I contacted them about auditing a very inadequate resurfacing job on a national road.
I was informed it was not their responsibility.
Could they quantify, on the 257km between Cork and Dublin (the first and second cities of the State) the amount of motorway, dual carriageway, single carriageway with and without continuous lines (broken down by width and without emergency hard shoulders) and speed-restricted within town boundaries?
They didn’t have those sort of figures. Surely to God, anybody with authority should have an inventory of their responsibility.
Come on, Irish road-users need, even deserve, better than this.
Cal Hyland
4 Closheen Lane
Rosscarbery
Co CorkRing road to undergo noise level survey
A NOISE survey is to be carried out along Cork’s main ring road to see if traffic noise levels are within EU limits.
The South Ring Road has passed a key traffic volume marker and will be included in a National Roads Authority noise mapping exercise being carried out on some of the country’s busiest main roads.
It is due for completion in June and will recommend methods of tackling areas where noise levels are above the permitted levels introduced by the EU in April.
The completed survey will be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency by July 2008 before being forwarded to the EU Commission.
Fianna Fáil TD John Dennehy welcomed the survey.
“The EU regulations are a welcome breakthrough in the battle between local residents and public representatives on one hand and road design personnel and engineers on the other,†he said.
“There is a need for balance and residents along this road have suffered because that balance has not been achieved.â€
I would guess that the sections through Douglas and between the Togher and Sarsfield Rd exits are the most likely to be over any noise limits. Some of the problems can probably be dealt with by putting up noise screens, but it’s conceivable that an 80 km/h speed limit would be put in place in parts to keep the noise (and other pollution) down.
Regarding the 100 and 80 kph speed limits.
I’ve been saying for a long time regarding this mess. One of the worst examples being the old Cork to Fermoy road. It is now being limited at 80 kph eventhough is is quite obviously up to and beyond 100 kph standard. If anything, this is going to cause accident with some people trying to overtake people driving at 80 kph.
The NRA has to get a more common sense approach. Each road should be reviewed for what it is and not what it is called.
@jungle wrote:
I would guess that the sections through Douglas and between the Togher and Sarsfield Rd exits are the most likely to be over any noise limits. Some of the problems can probably be dealt with by putting up noise screens, but it’s conceivable that an 80 km/h speed limit would be put in place in parts to keep the noise (and other pollution) down.
Wont make any difference in speeds as everyone stopped in gridlock most of the time 😀
From today’s olim Cork Examiner:
17 February 2007
Flights challenge
THERE will be flights from Knock to New York and Boston by FlyGlobeSpan beginning in May.
Where are the movers-and-shakers for Cork airport? Surely, it could generate greater numbers than Knock and Cork county would be helped economically with flights to and from New York and Boston.
Having recently lost a ferry service to the UK, surely the Cork airport authorities should become more proactive in acquiring direct services to and from the US.
Bill Hurley
Hyannis
Cap Cod
Massachusetts
USAFrom the quondam Cork Examiner or 17 February 2007
Cork international airport finally has ONE functioning airbridge!!!!!! Yepee, Yepee !!!!!!
17 February 2007
Airport passenger grateful for dry run
MY wife and I flew to Spain from Cork airport last Saturday.
To our welcome surprise, our Aer Lingus flight to Madrid was boarded via the sole airbridge at Cork airport’s smart new terminal.
It was a wet morning and it was a treat to use this new facility for the first time instead of being blown around on a wet and windy ramp.
We felt almost like VIPs strolling down the airbridge to the aircraft in the dry and it marked a good start to our weekend break.
Other passengers with reduced mobility will welcome this basic but important facility at a frequently wet airport.
So, top marks to Cork airport authority for the airbridge and to Aer Lingus for finally treating some of their Cork passengers with as much comfort at home as they do at their outstations in Europe and the US.
All that remains now is for the airport authority to finish the job and put in the other airbridges without further excuse and delay.
Thomas Whelan
61 Fr Matthew Road
Turners Cross
CorkThe Government have today instructed the Dublin Airport Authority to assume 120 million of the 220 million dept for the redevelopment of Cork Airport.
Cork Airport will have to service the remaining 100 million.From today’s quondam Cork Examiner:
Cork Airport told to pay €100m of debt
By Eoin English, Seán O’Riordan and Stephen Rogers
THE Government has told Cork Airport it wants it to pay €100 million towards the cost of its new airport terminal.However, the Cork Airport Authority Board yesterday ordered that a letter be sent to the Taoiseach telling him his Government will not break its promises by forcing it to take on the potentially crippling debt.
Chairman of the Cork Airport Authority, Joe Gantly, yesterday told the board that of the €220m debt it had amassed with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), the Government wants it to pay €100m.
The DAA will absorb the rest.
The decision to saddle Cork with the debt follows several meetings between Mr Gantly, the Taoiseach, and Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin in recent weeks.
By imposing that decision, the Government has done a U-turn on the commitment given in 2003 by then Transport Minister Séamus Brennan that each of the State’s airport’s would have debt-free status once they began independent operations.
Yesterday, Mr Gantly was told by the board to write to the Taoiseach saying it rejected the proposal. The board was appointed on the basis that the airport would start free after Aer Rianta was broken up.
It is understood that airport management is working on a business plan that would incorporate the €100m debt. The plan will be brought before the board in the coming weeks. The Government wants the issue resolved before the election.
The €220m total Cork Airport owes Dublin Airport is made up of €180m for its new terminal building and €40m of older debt.
Neither Dublin Airport Authority, nor Cork Airport Authority were willing to comment on the contents of proposals.
Mr Martin’s office said as far as he was concerned the matter was still being discussed by the two boards.
Fine Gael TD Jim O’Keeffe said it was devastating news that the airport was going to be forced to pay €100m of its debt.
His party colleague Simon Coveney described the move as “the most blatant breach of a political promise in Cork during the lifetime of this Governmentâ€.
When Aer Rianta was split up and Cork, Shannon and Dublin Airports agreed to go it alone, the Government — in an effort to get the agreement of management at Cork Airport — gave an absolute assurance in writing, later confirmed by the Taoiseach in the Dáil and directly to the staff, that Cork Airport would not be saddled with the debt associated with the building of its new terminal.
Click here for irishexaminer.com stories before this date
@Praxiteles wrote:
From today’s quondam Cork Examiner:
Cork Airport told to pay €100m of debt
well, if that hasnt helped you decide not to vote for FF nothing will. Thats an absolute joke.
@Pug wrote:
well, if that hasnt helped you decide not to vote for FF nothing will. Thats an absolute joke.
Thats the clincher for me not to vore for F.F. again for a long time.:mad:
Likewise,here’s one more lost FF voter.The PDs are as bad and share in the culpability here also.FF’s watchdog?More like lapdog..
just wondering why people think the DAA should pay for 40m of old debt and 180m of debt related to the terminal before they hand over to CAA? Surely if Cork Airport is to be a stand alone entity and has as much potential as people here believe, surely it should pay for some of the new facility that it has at its disposal. Why should the DAA/government pay for all of it?
Political promises always have been worthless in this country and contrary to what is often hinted at here, Cork is not the only place to fall foul of this. (Reading some of the hard done by Cork posts on here recently you’d think its getting nothing)
Just curious to the logic here as I dont know much of the history (political promise aside)Please God the good people of Cork will actually think likewise. I am not politically affiliated before anyone asks but can anyone explain how last time out we had the same debacle with the School of Music and the two City constituencies returned 6 FF TDs out of 10? If you ask me we are the lap dogs. FF must crack themselves laughing at the “loyalty” we provide to them in return for being treated as fifth class citizens. Just think of the Airport, our €4m railway station upgrade instead of the 9 figure upgrade promised, the decision to remove funding from the Sarsfield and Bandon Rd flyovers, the fact that they haven’t even carried out a feasability study on trams here, the 280 reannouncements of the opening of the Midleton railway with a 2008 opening date which changed silently last month to 2010, the shabby treatment of people in Watergrasshill over the toll road, our shambolic bus fleet (sic), the lack of any movement on trans-atlantic flights eventhough even bloody knock now has them, and all of this in transport alone. Compare this with the €15bn or so being spent on projects in the the Greatest City in the World Ever (TM) 165 miles up the road. It is 5 times bigger so give it 5 times more funding (or less if we are serious about counter balances). The ratio on transport funding between dublin and cork must run 100:1 at this stage.
The fact that this is a forum on transport doesn’t allow me to refer to other debacles such as failure to include any provisions in the Finance bill to encourage dockland development (despite EU approval to do same – do you think they’d dawdle like that if The Greatest City in the World Ever’s future was involved?), seepage of quality jobs, the shocking lack of funding for Cork 2005 etc, etc, etc…..
If this city has a smattering of self respect, given the way it is continually treated by this government, we will return 2 out of 9 (1 seat gone in North Central) FF/PD TDs as a maximum this time and even that is 2 too many if you ask me. I’d vote Monster Raving Looney Party ahead of FF at this stage.
1 – The CAA should not have to pay for something that the DAA controlled the design of. The new terminal is already operating at capacity, only has one airbridge and was overbudget. You designed this gold plated monster, you pay for it!
2 – The DAA has far greater earning potential due to the elements of the Aer Rianta empire that stayed with it, e.g. Great Southern Hotel chain, Aer Rianta International (which has incredibly valuable holdings in overseas airports, duty free operations in overseas airports and so on. If the CAA was given, say, the formerly Aer Rianta held stake in Birmingham airport, I’m sure they’d be more willing to shoulder some of the debt.
3 – Shannon has had a new terminal build and paid for by DAA/Aer Rianta, it’s only a matter of fairness that the same treatment should apply to Cork?
4 – A promise is a promise you spineless FF bunch!
But….your comment re political promises being worthless is correct, but summarises the problem with Irish politics. We know promises are worthless yet we don’t punish those politicians making said promises. We see the same with “resignation” types issues. Minister and TDs refuse to resign over genuinely serious issues, thereby showing their contempt for Irish voters, because they’re safe in teh knowledge that we won’t dump them out in the next election. This is in stark contrast to the UK where a Minister can be forced to resign over far less serious (to Irish eyes) issues.
Edit added – re Browser’s post – That is a quality rant and right on the money. Respect!
@vkid wrote:
just wondering why people think the DAA should pay for 40m of old debt and 180m of debt related to the terminal before they hand over to CAA? Surely if Cork Airport is to be a stand alone entity and has as much potential as people here believe, surely it should pay for some of the new facility that it has at its disposal. Why should the DAA/government pay for all of it?
Political promises always have been worthless in this country and contrary to what is often hinted at here, Cork is not the only place to fall foul of this. (Reading some of the hard done by Cork posts on here recently you’d think its getting nothing)
Just curious to the logic here as I dont know much of the history (political promise aside)vkid, answer me this, if the daa wasn’t to pay for the debt why then was it given, in toto, the Great Southern Chain and Aer Rianta international? How come Cork & Shannon didn’t get 1/3 of those? In any event the project over ran from€140m to €220m. Who was supposedly surpervising the project at the time? The DAA of course. My good sources inCAA tell me they have run Cork airport into the ground for thelast 2 yrs vetoing any decent proposal – as of course you’d expect the to because they are the competition!
That is even before you recall that the DAA and Shannon got their airport upgrades through the purse strings of Aer Rianta, a state body with tax money from everywhere, inc Cork, funding those upgrades. We should have been upgraded 20 yrs earlier but the delay in giving us an upgrade is being used to justify us having to pay for it!
Don’t get me wrong, the question you ask is valid (this isn’t a begging bowl issue I promise) but so are the answers to it. I think the government has no idea of the strength of feeling about this here. The promise (and I know – politicians break these all of the time) is being seen as a bell wether of whether this gov could give a flying f**k about Cork (we already had our doubts). The answer is a resounding no.
@vkid wrote:
Anywhere outside the “Greater Dublin hellhole” suffers in the same way..Its not a Cork thing.
Agreed. And anyway, as I’ve said before, I don’t blame Dublin for this. The rest of the Country (including and especially Cork) are the fools letting them away with it. If Cork or Waterford or Limerick or Galway could get away with such disproportionate treatment we’d grab it with both hands……….
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