Connected city/ sustainable and active travel
Cork City’s connectivity with its immediate vicinity and with its wider hinterland will grow over the coming years. Infrastructure and operational projects will transform how people move in and around the city. Connected city; sustainable and active travel
Other investments under the CMATS will further enhance accessibility and connectivity between the City Centre and key destinations in the wider metropolitan area. The revised bus network under BusConnects will provide a core bus corridor from the city centre to Cork Airport, improving international connectivity. Kent Station will serve as a central interchange for the light rail, bus and suburban rail network, with new stations and double tracking improving accessibility to Middleton, Mallow and other settlements within the region. In the short-term to 2025, as these ‘Big Dig’ projects go through planning and approval, a range of complementary measures can be taken. The matter of wayfinding and legibility should be further considered to improve access for pedestrians and cyclists in the City Centre. Improved public signage on routes from/to Kent Station can improve the experience of visitors as they enter the city centre area. CMATS proposes the development of an integrated map-based approach to public signage in the City Centre, similar to the ‘Legible London’ system as implemented in London. This approach replaces disparate signs and markers and replaces them with attractive map-based signs that show the walking distance between different destinations and highlights local landmarks and way markers.
Cork City is a destination of regional, national and international importance. It is the economic driver for the southern region and serves as an international destination for education, tourism and FDI. As such it is essential that transport infrastructure continues to support accessibility to and within the city centre in order to meet demand and support growth. The implementation of the CMATS in the period up to 2040 will be critical to the city’s centres successful performance and growth, enhancing transport infrastructure and providing an integrated multi-modal transport system for the city centre and surrounding metropolitan area. The provision of a light rail system for Cork City, as proposed under the CMATS, has the potential to be transformative for Cork, connecting the City Centre to key destinations in the wider metropolitan area including the Docklands, UCC, Cork University Hospital and the proposed Cork Science and Innovation Park. The route alignment of the LRT as currently proposed runs from Ballincollig in the west through the city centre, from where it runs eastward through the Docklands to Mahon Point (final route to be agreed). It is recommended that CCC, in collaboration with the NTA, continues to plan for the routing and delivery of the LRT in the period up to 2025, with the aim of maximising connectivity and access between the City Centre and nearby enterprise, education and employment centres.
Comparative learnings: Secured bike parking facilities, Amsterdam. Bus lane expansions, New York, Mult-modal transport system, Lyon Stakeholders: Bus Connects, Bus Éireann, Cork City Council, Iarnród Éireann, National Transport Authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Waterways Ireland
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