Preferred route corridor for the Cork to Kinsale Greenway revealed - July 2025

In previous posts, I looked at what was proposed for the Cork to Kinsale Greenway.

Cork County Council sign €2.6 million Contract for Initial Phase of Cork to Kinsale Greenway - 3 Nov 2023

A look at the proposed routes for the Cork to Kinsale Greenway - Q3 2024 - 17 Sept 2024

Results of the 2nd consultation for the proposed Kinsale Greenway - 9 Apr 2025

At the start of July 2025, the preferred route corridor was revealed.

Key points...

A) The new Greenway will use the Chetwynd Viaduct. An artists impression is shown at the top of the post.

B) One of the previous options for this section from Cork City was to basically followed the N71 Bandon road which would have been pretty boring. Instead, the new Greenway will take in the village of Waterfall and more or less follow the route of the old railway line.

This includes taking in Goggins Hill Tunnel.

C) They've included a spur to Halfway and Crossbarry which will very likely in time connect to the Clare O'Leary walk going into Bandon. This will include Upton, another tunnel and a bridge over the Bandon River.

D) For the section south from the Goggins Hill Tunnel, they have decided to take the more direct cross country route to Riverstick. There had been other options to go further west which would have been more indirect.

E) The more direct route covers some steep ground to the west of Riverstick so it's likely they will use switch back sections here like the one already in use at the Greenway from Frankfield to the Tramore Valley Park.

F) To the south-west of Riverstick, the Greenway is likely to go through a woodland area so that should be nice.

G) The section down to Belgooly is likely is stay near the main R600 road. There is also the potential to pass near the local primary school which will allow for safe access for students.

H) The route from Belgooly to Kinsale has yet to be decided as can be seen from the map above. There is already a walkway along the estuary south of Belgooly so I suspect the final route will be the green one.

Details about the third public consultation can be seen HERE

A brochure for the consultation can be viewed HERE

They hope to apply for planning for the Greenway in 2027.

The project website is https://corkkinsalegreenway.ie/

In conclusion... This new greenway from Cork City to Kinsale will be a fantastic facility for walkers, runners and cyclists once it's built. It will most likely be in the second half of the 2030's before that happens.

Already, you can see people on social media moaning about 'bringing back the railway'. It's as if the track was still in place and it just needed to be reopened.

The route of the old railway to West Cork and Kinsale is long gone. There are buildings now where the old lines used to be. The railway to West Cork will never come back so it's really a case of a new Greenway or nothing.

Results of the 2nd consultation for the proposed Kinsale Greenway - Apr 2025

The second consultation for the proposed Greenway from Cork City to Kinsale was held in September and October of 2024. A number of route corridors were proposed and the public were invited to comment.

A report on that consultation is now available HERE

As can be seen from the image above, 80% of the 317 submissions thought that the new proposed Greenway would have a positive impact.

As for a route choice, the Green option was the most popular first choice at 38.8% closely followed by the Red route at 36.6%.

As you can see, there were multiple options. Besides the Red, Green and Blue options, there wasn't much support for the hilly Pink route to Crossbarry.

What's next??... Once they have chosen a 'preferred route', they will hold a third consultation in mid 2025.

Cork County Council sign €2.6 million Contract for Initial Phase of Cork to Kinsale Greenway

More good news! On the 1st of Nov 2023, Cork County Council announced that they had signed a €2.6 million Contract for the initial phase of a proposed Cork City to Kinsale Greenway.

Their press release said... "We are delighted to announce a significant milestone in the development of the Cork to Kinsale Greenway with the appointment of consultant, Arup, as technical advisors to oversee the initial design phases of the project from Phase 1 Concept and Feasibility to Phase 4 Statutory Process.

🚶🚲 Funded by Transport Infrastructure Ireland the €2.6million contract offers a significant opportunity to develop a safe, scenic, off-road route that will connect communities between Cork and Kinsale with a convenient and enjoyable means of travel.

📃 The preliminary phase of the project will go through various stages such as feasibility, route option selection, public consultation and ultimately the statutory process before progressing to construction."

Let's have a look at the area under consideration. This is a map of the old railway routes around 1900.

1) At the top right, we have the old railway line crossing over the Cork to Kinsale road. This old Limestone bridge was known as the 'Snotty Bridge' due to the multiple stalactites hanging underneath the arch. 

The bridge was replaced with the Kinsale Road roundabout and a new Greenway is going to be developed from there to the Chetwynd reservoir in the next few years as outlined in this previous post.

2) Going west from the reservoir, the proposed line will almost certainly use the magnificent Chetwynd over the Bandon road.

The route of the old railway line is still clearly visible on satellite maps and selecting the route to Waterfall should be relatively easy.

3) For the route south of Waterfall, the old line is still mostly there with two bridges still intact. It then reaches the tunnel to the west of Ballinhassig near Goggins Hill.

This tunnel is about 800m in length with some spectacular ventilation shafts along the way, a great feature to have on any Greenway.

4) From the southern bore of the tunnel, the route swings west and again, most of the line is still there. It crosses a viaduct at Halfway.

If you look back at the map again, you can see a point marked Kinsale Junction Station which was just to the east of Crossbarry and there was a spur in the line then south to Kinsale. 

There are so many features along this first section and the fast a lot of the old line is still there, it's hard to imagine any other route. A new Greenway as far as Crossbarry would also link nicely into any future Greenway to Bandon and West Cork.

5) The route south from Crossbarry to Kinsale is a different story though. There are only fragments of the old railway line left and it's pretty much a blank sheet of paper for the designers of any new Greenway.

In summary... Unlike the Midleton to Youghal Greenway which is being constructed on an old railway line still owned by Iarnród Éireann, the old railway line to Kinsale is now mostly on private land and there are likely to be objections.

On the other side, you have people that think the old railway should be rebuilt and they may object as well. Whatever route is selected, the whole process will take ages.

I'd expect that we won't see any Greenway by 2030 except for the one near the Kinsale Road roundabout. We might see the link to Waterfall built in the early 2030's with the rest of the Greenway to Kinsale by the end of that decade?

At the end of this €2.6 million spend, there still won't be any Greenway but at least, a major part of the project will be completed.