Earlier this week, Cork County Councillors gave the Green light for proposals in the Carrigaline TPREP (Transport & Public Realm Enhancement Plan). While most of these relate to improvements in the centre of Carrigaline, one key element of the plan was the establishment of a new Greenway to the north of the town.
The path of the new Greenway is shown above and it follows the route of the old Cork to Crosshaven railway line which closed back in the early 1930's.
The Greenway proposal faced considerable opposition from local residents but as the satellite image shows above, Cork County Council left a Green corridor for a future walkway when they gave permission for all of the current housing estates. When residents bought their houses, they would have known that a Greenway was proposed for some time in the future.
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| Green corridor left between houses |
When these Greenway projects are announced, they are often framed as being 'cycleways' with media outlets stirring things up giving the impression that the Council are putting some cycleway just for cyclists in the middle of a housing estate.
The reality is that the Greenway will be used by walkers, cyclists and runners. The ironic thing is that once the Greenway is built, the biggest user group is likely to be local residents who will use it for walking and exercise.
From a running point of view, it means that there will be two Greenways to use in Carrigaline. The existing Carrigaline to Crosshaven Greenway is very popular with runners as it's safe and flat and the new one is likely to be as popular especially for those living on the north side of the town.
The map above shows the final route of the Greenway from Cork City to Carrigaline. The first thing that surprised me was that it's only 17kms from Pairc Ui Chaoimh in Cork City to Carrigaline.
The new Greenway will not only be used by runners in Carrigaline but it opens up new possibilities for runners in Cork City, Passage West and even Cobh. It's not hard to imagine say some runners from Cobh in the future taking the ferry across and using the new Greenway to run down towards Carrigaline and Crosshaven for a long run.
It's worth noting that while this approval is just for the new Greenway near Carrigaline, it's one of the most important sections. Some parts of the old railway line like say around Raffeen are overgrown and are easy enough to upgrade to a Greenway but it's the sections that are in towns that tend to be tricky so it's good that this piece got approved.
Further info...
The Carrigdhoun newspaper provides the following... "Councillors in Cork County Council have agreed to support the Chief Executive's recommendations for the Part 8 proposal, which will see an overhaul of Main Street, Carrigaline and the creation of a cycleway through Bridgemount and Herons Wood estate." ... Link HERE
Cork County Council have their plans for this project HERE
These are a few lines I extracted from their documents...
"Another green route is proposed to link Passage West and Monkstown to Carrigaline along the disused railway line commencing at Bothar Guidel up to the R610 and following the coastal road through Monkstown and Passage West."
"The Carrigaline to Crosshaven Greenway extension and the proposed Carrigaline to Passage West Cycleway meets the Lee to Sea initiative in terms of connecting the harbour area with Cork City via a high-quality safe walking and cycling route."
"The recently granted M28 Motorway has provided for active modes adjacent to an overbridge on the Fernhill Road and due to its proximity to the route of the Carrigaline to Passage West cycleway it was deemed appropriate to use this reservation to connect the cycle way across the proposed M28 Motorway."
In conclusion... I'm not sure what the completion date is for this but these things tend to move at a glacial pace. The new Greenway will cross the new M28 motorway to Ringaskiddy so that will have to be built first.
I've seen a Government document saying the M28 won't be completed until 2028 so I suspect it will be the end of this decade before the new Greenway is ready.
Shame that there seems to be no effort to create a walk/cycle route from carrigaline to ringaskiddy along the north river bank of chruch road. All that would be required is road widening along a 450m stretch. The rest would be mirror image of Crosshaven walkway. It would bring direct access to Pharma, Port and Park.
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