Residents take to Summerhill North in Cork city to protest BusConnects proposals
The St. Luke’s neighbourhood is the latest flashpoint in the battle between the NTA and local residents over proposed changes that would see on-street parking removed and footpaths narrowed.
Residents in St Luke’s on the northside of Cork city marched up and down Summerhill North to protest against proposed changes as part of the National Transport Authority’s (NTA) €600m BusConnects plan for Cork.
About two dozen local residents assembled at Gabriel House near St Luke’s Cross on Wednesday afternoon, February 22 and proceeded to walk down Summerhill North, a major gateway into the city centre. Under the BusConnects proposals, on-street parking would be removed from areas along Summerhill North and a bus corridor would be introduced while keeping two lanes of traffic. The proposal would see the footpaths narrowed to accommodate the new lane of traffic.
In conjunction, bike lanes would be installed on York Street, leading from MacCurtain Street onto Wellington Road, which runs parallel to Summerhill North.
Summerhill North is the latest flashpoint in the battle between local groups in Cork city and the NTA over BusConnects Cork which would see 12 new Sustainable Transport Corridors (STCs) installed across the city.
Following protests in the Mangala in Douglas last summer, the NTA scrapped its proposal to build a bridge over the green belt. Some Cork City Councillors have been vociferous in their condemnation of BusConnects, while others have asked that the rhetoric be toned down.
Deirdre Tobin, a local resident and a cyclist, told Tripe+Drisheen that residents are not against changes to the traffic layout on Summerhill North, and would even welcome a bus lane on the road.
Ms Tobin emphasised that residents are not against BusConnects, but she said that the NTA is “not using a nuanced enough approach.”
She said what they are asking for is one lane for traffic, some on-street parking “and we want to keep our pavements.”
“We’re accepting of the bus lane, we know where this is going, but we think it’s really important to keep the pavements,” Ms Tobin said as the group made its way down Summerhill North towards the city.
At certain points along Summerhill North the residents have measured the road and the footpath with lasers. They’ve also spray-painted the footpath at various points to show how narrow the paths could become.
Ms Tobin said it’s vital that the footpaths are wide enough to accommodate the wide range of people who use them which includes people with disabilities, elderly citizens and parents pushing buggies. Wheelie bins left on the footpath outside several residences also make it hard to navigate in places.
The Mayfield to City route is one of 12 new transport corridors drawn up by the NTA for Cork city. According to the NTA, approximately 159 on-street parking spaces could be removed along the 3.5km route. The NTA estimates that bus times to the city centre would halve from 32 minutes to 15 minutes under its BusConnects’ proposals. Without changes the NTA foresees bus times climbing up to nearly 40 minutes for the duration of the journey.
However, residents told T+D that the introduction of a third lane for traffic would likely lead to more, not less traffic.
Local Green Party Councillor Oliver Moran joined the residents on the march down Summerhill North. He praised the group for their level of engagement on a local level and with the NTA.
“You can see it in the way they are talking about different ideas. It’s not, ‘no,no,no,’” he said, adding that the residents are suggesting alternative ideas and wanting to make a change.
As part of the BusConnects consultation process, the NTA set up community forums for each of the 12 bus corridors. The forums consist of two members from the local community from each of the 12 routes as well as public representatives. A public consultation which closed in October 2022 resulted in thousands of submissions from members of the public in Cork.
Separately, Cathal O’Boyle, Senior Executive City Architect with Cork City Council, speaking at a recent two-day “Future of Cork City” Symposium held at UCC’s Cork Centre for Architectural Education encouraged people to make their opinions known to the NTA regarding BusConnects.
“BusConnects is in public consultation and if there’s something about BusConnects that you don’t like, your opportunity to say something about it is now. It’s never as easy as you’d like it to be because you have to look and see what they’re planning to do and then tell them that’s not acceptable and give them an alternative. These are individual decisions that are made along the route and you should have your say.”
“There are certainly aspects of St. Luke’s, like bus gates etcetera, that I have problems with and that I think are ill-considered. I think they’re ill-considered because I live there, and the person who did those drawings had a different idea. That’s why your input is so necessary.”
Mr O’Boyle said the routing of cycle lanes up York Street and Gardiner’s Hill were aspects of the Northside plans he felt were untenable.
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