Work continues on the new walkway bridge over the South Ring Road in Cork City

Back in June of 2022, I updated a post about the plans for the new pedestrian bridge over the N40 South Ring Road in Cork City which will link the Tramore Valley Park to Frankfield and Grange.

Cork City Council have just released some photos which shows the bridge under construction at Thompsons of Carlow.

It is expected to be finished and installed at the end of April 2023.

As you can see from the photos, the bridge is four metres wide which leaves loads of space for pedestrians, runners and cyclists.

The planned completion date for the whole project is the Autumn so I'd suspect it will be maybe September or October before it is open to the public?

This will not only benefit local runners in terms of more routes but it was also aid with access to the 5k parkrun on Saturday mornings.

Sometimes these projects seem to move at a glacial pace but at least we can see the finish line with this one.

Link to previous post with maps... https://corkrunning.blogspot.com/2022/02/cork-city-council-announce-plans-for.html

Cork City Council announce plans for new bridge from Grange to the Tramore Valley Park

Update - 22nd June 2022... Work has now commenced on the new pedestrian bridge over the N40 South Rung Road in Cork City. This will connect the Tramore Valley Park to the Grange & Frankfield areas of the city.

The bridge is expected to be finished by the end of 2023. Hopefully by the time it is finished, the 5k parkrun in the park will have been up and running for a good while and this bridge will allow easier access for participants from Frankfield and Grange.

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Feb 2022... Back at the end of January 2022, I had a post up about how the National Transport Authority (NTA) had allocated €4.3 million for the construction of a new bridge over the N40 South Ring Road in Cork City. This new bridge will connect the Tramore Valley Park to the Grange & Frankfield areas of the city.

€4.3 million allocated for new bridge over N40 from Tramore Valley Park to Grange - Jan 2022

The Government recently announced a large number of grants for multiple Greenways, pedestrian and cycle paths and under projects. This came under the title of 'Active Travel Investment Allocations'.

A total of €46.9 million was allocated to Cork City Council projects with a further €20.4 million allocated to Cork County Council projects. Some of the projects are shown at the bottom of this post.

One of the grants was for €4.3 million for a new pedestrian bridge over the N40 South Ring Road connecting the Tramore Valley Park to Grange. I have more information about this project in a post from February 2021.

From what I understand, work on this project is going to commence in a few weeks. I don't know what the completion date is but I presume sometime in 2023?

The impact of this bridge is that it opens up the Tramore Valley Park a whole new area with lots of houses.

There was also a grant for €60,000 for a study to investigate the possibility of connecting the Kinsale Road & the Black Ash car park to the Tramore Valley Park. At present. there is no provision for pedestrians to cross the South Link Road.

It's not hard to imagine in a few years time that there will be a weekly 5k parkrun in Tramore Valley Park with people accessing it from all directions.

Some of the projects funded...

Project Code: Project Name 2022 Allocation
CCC/19/0009 Grange Road Transport Corridor & Tramore Valley (N40 bridge) €4,300,000
CCC/19/0010 Ballybrack Valley Pedestrian & Cycle Track (Phase 4) €400,000
CCC/20/0006 Glanmire Cycle Way and pedestrian improvements €1,700,000
CCC/20/0009 Passage Greenway (Ph. 2 from Mahon to Passage-west) €200,000
CCC/20/0018 Curraheen Pedestrian and Cycleway upgrade €100,000
CCC/20/0021 Passage to City Centre Greenway - Phase1 (N40 to Docklands) €3,000,000
CCC/20/0023 Half Moon Lane Improvement Scheme €100,000
CCC/21/0005 Marina Promenade Pedestrian and Cycle facilities €600,000
CCC/21/0007 Lea to Sea Cycle Route Study €200,000
CCC/21/0008 Viaduct to City Cycle Route Phase 1 (Viaduct to Kinsale Road) €220,000
CCC/21/0017 Mayfield to Glen Cycle Route €200,000
CCC/21/0018 Ballincollig to City Centre (Classes Lake to Carrigrohane) €50,000
CCC/21/0020 Donnybrook Hill Pedestrian Upgrades €550,000
CCC/21/0021 Douglas to Grange Bridge Cycle Route €350,000
CCC/21/0022 Kilcully & Upper Glanmire Pedestrian Improvement Scheme €400,000
CCC/22/xxxx Dunkettle Road Ph. 2 Pedestrian and Cycle Scheme €500,000
CCC/22/xxxx Curaheen Road Pedestrian and Cycle scheme €380,000
CCC/22/xxxx Maglin Greenway Ph. 1 €75,000
CCC/22/xxxx Glanmire to City Centre Ph. 2 Cycle Scheme (Dunkettle to City) €75,000
CCC/22/xxxx Sarsfield Road to MTU Pedestrian and Cycle Scheme €60,000
CCC/22/xxxx Sarsfield Rd to Clashduv Rd Cycle link €60,000
CCC/22/xxxx Bessboro to Mahon - Pedestrian and Cycle Scheme €60,000
CCC/22/xxxx Kinsale Rd to Tramore Valley Park - Pedestrian and Cycle Connection €60,000
CCC/22/xxxx Shanakiel/Strawberry Hill Cycle Scheme €60,000
CCC/22/xxxx Rochestown Rd to Douglas Cycle Scheme €60,000
CCO/22/xxxx Ballinacurra - Middleton Pedestrian and Cycle Route (Phase 1 Balllyanne woods Car Park to Broderick St) €1,150,000
CCO/22/xxxx Carrigaline - Ringaskiddy and Passage (Phase 1 Rafeen to Passage) €1,000,000
CCO/22/xxxx Little Island - Pedestrian and Cycling Bridge €270,000
CCO/22/xxxx Crosshaven - Pedestrian and Cyclist facilities €150,000

NTA allocate €1.5 million for new path from Grange to the Tramore Valley Park

Update 11th Feb 2021: Good news! The National Transport Authority (NTA) have just allocated €1.5 million in funding to construct a new pedestrian and cycle path from the Grange Road / Frankfield to the Tramore Valley Park. This will include a new bridge over the South Ring Road.

 

Back in early 2018, full planning permission was granted for a new pedestrian/cycleway from the Grange Road through the Vernon Mount Valley with an overbridge to the Tramore Valley Park.

At a recent meeting of Cork City Council, the Director of Infrastructure Development said that the plans were now finalised... ‘The detailed design of the project has been completed, aided by grant funding by the National Transport Authority. Under the current programme it is envisaged that subject to funding, the Council will be tendering for works and appointing a contractor in 2021, with an estimated construction time of 18 months.’
 

Slowly but surely this project is gradually getting there. The key word however in the statement above is funding. 

Ground work on the entrance from Grange in 2016

Previous posts...

Cork City Council plans to build a bridge to access Tramore Valley Park (May 2018)

Update on the bridge and walkway for the Tramore Valley Park (Oct 2015)

Planning Notice (2017)

Cork City Council plans to build a bridge to access Tramore Valley Park

 

Cork City Council have announced that they are planning to build a new pedestrian bridge over the South Link Road to connect the Black Ash car park to the Tramore Valley Park.

While there are advanced plans for a similar bridge over the South Ring Road to Frankfield and Grange, the link to the Black Ash car park is a new proposal.

There was of course a 5k parkrun in the Tramore Valley Park back in 2015/2016 before it had to cancelled due to inadequate on site parking. This new bridge would solve that particular problem.

I'd imagine that between planning and trying to source Government funding, all of this is likely to take a few years at least? Once the project has been completed, it should pave the way for a return of the weekly 5k parkrun in Tramore Valley Park.