New images show how commuting in Cork City centre is set to change
Cork Public New And Proposed Street The Major Council Show Maccurtain Released Scheme Bus By The On Layouts Quay As City Merchant's Of Improvement Transport Part New Traffic Lane Images
Work on a major project to prioritise buses, cyclists, and pedestrians across vast swathes of Cork City centre is set to ramp up over the coming weeks.
Cork City Council has released new visuals showing how some of the city’s quays will look once the ambitious MacCurtain Street Public Transport Improvement Scheme is completed.
While much of the focus has been on the planned facelift for MacCurtain St and surrounding streets, including Bridge St and part of St Patrick's Hill, the scheme includes works across a huge area to facilitate one of the biggest changes in traffic management in the city centre in a generation, in a bid to shift the focus away from the private car towards public transport and bikes.
Work on the project has been underway in some areas since before Christmas, but City Hall has said that the works will become more visible over the coming weeks, as contractors begin working on the quays.
The scheme, which will lead to significant traffic management changes along Anderson’s Quay, Camden Quay, Penrose Quay, Merchants Quay, Patrick’s Quay — and including Christy Ring Bridge, Lavitt’s Quay, Mulgrave Road, and Devonshire St — has been designed to improve the reliability and journey times of bus services in the city centre, and to provide improved walking and cycling infrastructure along the quays and at key streets and junctions.
The work, which will be advanced in stages over the next 18 months, will also see major public realm investment in several areas, the delivery of 5.5km of new pathways and public lighting as well as a “substantial programme” of tree and shrub planting.
Improvements in the connectivity of various cycling and pedestrian routes, road resurfacing, and signalised junction upgrades to prioritise buses, cyclists, and pedestrians are planned across the vast works area.
The scheme will culminate in the restoration of two-way vehicular traffic to MacCurtain St which itself will undergo a major facelift, with major public realm works also planned for the adjoining Bridge St and Coburg St areas.
Following the 2019 city boundary extension, the city’s population increased to 210,000, and is projected to grow by 50% over the next 20 years.
City council chief executive, Ann Doherty, said the city’s status as an emerging international city of scale and a national driver of economic growth presents challenges as well as opportunities.
“How people get to and from work and leisure is a key challenge that must be addressed if the city is to function properly and to prosper,” she said.
“In the coming years, those who live and visit the city will see significant change."
She said that, as part of the National Development Plan, a fund of €200m is available to Cork to invest in public transport to improve bus frequency, capacity, journey time, and ticketing.
“Public consultation on the Bus Connect network is already underway," she said. "On a broader and bigger scale, the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy provides a coherent, integrated transport planning policy framework for the planning and delivery of transport infrastructure to support the development of the greater Cork area."
Ms Doherty said Cork had led "a national conversation" over the last two years on how cities can be “reimagined”.
“An appetite for change is reflected in the welcome for the council’s initiatives to vastly improve walking and cycling infrastructure, pedestrianise city centre streets and to facilitate outdoor dining and a ‘greening’ of the city on a scale not previously seen,” she said.
Cork Chamber CEO Conor Healy described the project as a crucial step in the transformation of the city.
“As well as advancing the council’s City Centre Movement Strategy, it is a cornerstone in the delivery of CMATS,” he said “Measures of this nature will allow Cork city to thrive as CMATS intends and be the destination of choice for retail, hospitality, arts, education, and business.
“Since its inception, we have advocated for a Cork-based CMATS team to focus on delivery.
“Alongside the appointment of 23 additional team members to roll out Bus Connects in Cork, there is now every potential for CMATS to gain momentum.”
Meanwhile, city councillors have been told that work is ongoing to identify an emerging preferred route for Cork’s proposed €1bn light rail transit (LRT) scheme, as envisaged by CMATS.
A strategic assessment report has been prepared for submission to the Department of Transport and the design team is now appraising a range of route options, with extensive public consultation on the emerging preferred route due by the middle of the year.
Under CMATS, the LRT will be preceded by a high-frequency bus service between Ballincollig and Mahon, to underpin development along the proposed light rail corridor.