Marina promenade upgrade given the go-ahead
Cork City Council voted for improvements for Marina promenade as one of a number of proposals for active travel measures, including a cycleway for Glanmire and upgrades to the route to the airport.
Cork city’s Marina promenade will be permanently laid out as a pedestrian and cycling route for 1.8km as part of an extensive upgrade to the popular amenity following a vote at Monday evening’s city council meeting.
The plans will build on the pedestrianisation of the river walkway, initially introduced in 2020, by repaving and upgrading public amenities, with the route from Centre Park Road to Church Avenue accessible to walkers, cyclists and emergency vehicles only.
An access road will be kept in place for Lee Rowing Club and Páirc Uí Chaoimh at the Centre Park Road end.
This will now be the only vehicular access to Páirc Uí Chaoimh, following last month’s news that An Bórd Pleanála had turned down the stadium’s bid for a “set down and collect” area and a vehicle crossing for the pedestrianised Marina Park at the other side of the stadium at Monahan Road.
The Marina promenade’s works are long overdue and the amenity has suffered “100 years of decay,” Cllr Kieran McCarthy said at the council vote Monday night.
“There used to be a bandstand and a lido at the Marina,” he said. “There was even a ferry service to get across to Tivoli in the 1960s.”
However, he pointed out concerns in submissions made by the Lee Rowing Club about access for Regattas, and asked council engineers to continue to engage with the club and to bear event management in mind.
Plans include plazas at the Eastern and Western ends of the promenade as well as an Atlantic Pond plaza. All the Marina promenade’s mature trees will be retained.
The vote was one of a number on proposals for large active travel projects at Monday night’s council meeting.
Traffic calming for Glanmire
There was big news for Glanmire, with a vote in favour of a dedicated 1.4km cycle track and footpaths from the Dunkettle roundabout along the Glashaboy river into Glanmire village.
This is the first phase in a planned continuous cycle route from Glanmire to the City Centre, ultimately also part of plans for a greenway between Cork City and Youghal.
Glanmire is an area of high car dependency, with 81% of residents currently driving to work, and with large housing developments like Ballinglanna SHD creating a growing population.
“I think its a wonderful scheme and the beginning of something wonderful for Glanmire, which is a very car-dependent suburb,” Cllr Oliver Moran said. “It’s the first phase of a scheme to link Glanmire to the city and the beginning of a Greenway between Cork and Youghal. It’s a beautiful route along the banks of the river ending in what is essentially a public realm space.”
However, Cllr Joe Kavanagh warned of gridlock fears for a road that he said is already heavily congested. “That stretch from Glanmire into Dunkettle is extremely busy and we are going to narrow the road further,” he said. “Not everyone is going to cycle, and cars aren’t going to go away.”
The plans include public street lighting and will require the removal of ten trees, which will be replaced by an avenue of trees in the complete project.
77 active travel schemes underway
Other active transport measures voted on included a series of improvements to the cycleway between Cork City and the airport.
The focus has been on active travel funding since it emerged in August that councils had spent less than half of a €309 million budget for bike lanes and pedestrian facilities, with Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan ordering councils to create projects to spend the budget by mid-September.
Cork City Council had spent €19 million of a €29 million allocation, while Cork County Council had claimed €11 million of €15.7 million.
77 active transport schemes are now at various stages of completion citywide at present, according to an answer to Cllr Fiona Kerins’ request for details of projects.