Cork City to mix cycling with both walking and buses in new project

— Quality of cycle routes fall short of what Cork needs, says campaigners.

Cork City and National Transport Authority are to mix cycling with both walking and buses in new project covering Cork’s MacCurtain Street, the parallel quays and streets joining them.

Public consultation for the MacCurtain Street Public Transport Improvement Scheme ends today (Friday). Information on how to respond and the project’s documents can be found on the council’s website, with some of the key drawings also shown below this article.

Local campaigners have criticised the disconnectedness of the cycle paths planned as part of the project. Cork Cycling Campaign said that if going from Pope’s Quay to the Bus Station there’s 7 points where there’s conflict points designed between pedestrians and cycling.

Speaking to IrishCycle.com yesterday evening, Cork Cycling Campaign chairperson Conn Donovan said: “The campaign is disappointed that the quality of the cycling infrastructure isn’t of the standard we expect for a city the size of Cork.”

“We are disappointed that there’s poor junction treatment, and there’s multiple areas of conflict between cyclists and pedestrians under the proposed plans,” he said. He said similar designs nearby have proven to cause such conflicts.

He added: “There’s very little imagination — no quietways, or school streets planned even though there’s several schools in the area covered by the plan. Overall it isn’t a good template for Cork. We hope to see improvements in the manager’s report. If not we’ll have to look at options including escalating the issues to national government and the NTA. All we want is the best solution for Cork.”

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