Northern entrance to Tramore Valley Park is now open - Dec 2021

 

The good news is that the northern entrance to Tramore Valley Park in Cork City is now open. The photo above shows the entrance from Half-Moon Lane.

This is the view from the other side...

As you can see on the left, there is a new footpath as well. The photo below shows the old gate.

The new footpath extends up Half Moon Lane, past the girls secondary school and up to the South Douglas Road.

Up to now, the only pedestrian entrance to the park was from Douglas. Otherwise, people had to drive there and park. This was a crazy situation for people living in Turners Cross and Ballyphehane who are right next to the park.

The above map shows that a route which now crosses the park. People now have the option of walking, cycling or running through the park as part of a larger route.

What Next??... I suspect the next is that the City Council will fit gates to this new entrance. The park after all does have opening and closing times and that only makes sense if there if there are gates on all the entrances.

Considering that there is a footpath all the way down Half-Moon Lane, there is no excuse to have this entrance closed while the park is open.

5k parkrun??... The next obvious question is what about the Tramore Valley Park 5k parkrun? Can it restart?

Here are some stats about the parkrun is this park...

A) The very first Tramore Valley 5k parkrun was held on the 26th of September 2015

B) Only 15 events were held. The average number of participants was 207 per event.

C) The last one on the 23rd of January 2016 attracted 533 participants. The larger numbers were due to the Operation Transformation TV programme and this seems to been the one that caused the Council to suspend it.

Think about that for a second. It's been almost 6-years since the last parkrun was held here.

It's a damning reflection on Cork City Council that they haven't allowed it to restart.

School donates land to allow public access to Tramore Valley Park via Half Moon Lane

Some good news! The Board of Management of Christ King Girl's Secondary School are donating some land to Cork City Council to allow for the construction of a public footpath via Half Moon Lane.

From Twitter.... "The Board of Management of Christ King Secondary School are delighted to announce the gifting of land to Cork City Council to allow for the construction of a public footpath for access to Tramore Valley Park via Half Moon Lane."

This will hopefully speed things up as the current situation is that local residents in Turners Cross cannot walk or run to their local park as Cork City Council keep the access gate locked.

Plans for works to open gate to Tramore Valley Park to be released soon

Back in January of 2020, I had a post up about how the pedestrian entrance at the north-west corner of Tramore Valley Park was likely to remain closed for the foreseeable future.

Gate at the Half-Moon Lane entrance in Dec 2019

This has led to the ironic situation whereby the people that are living closest to the park like in Turners Cross can't get access to it.


The reasons cited were...

a) The volume of traffic going to Christ King Girls Secondary School, a number of commercial premises, including the ESB, a pitch & putt club, one residential property and a large City Council Depot.

b) There is also no public footpath on the laneway, while the junction at the end of the 250m stretch is completely blind in both directions when exiting and does not have traffic lights.

The latest news is that the plans to facilitate the opening of the Half Moon Lane entrance to Tramore Valley Park are set to go on public display in the second week in August.

The new layout when completed will see changes to the junction with the South Douglas Road, changes on the lane itself, and will enable the entrance to the park to be opened to pedestrians and cyclists. The public will be asked for their submissions on the proposals once they go on display.

South Douglas Road / Half-Moon Lane junction

New traffic lights, and a relocation of public lights are also included in the plans, while the laneway itself has to be reconfigured also. There have been repeated calls for the Half Moon Lane entrance to Tramore Valley Park to be opened to the public while hundreds of people signed a petition calling on City Hall to open the gate in May.

Narrow exit for Half-Moon Lane

It’s expected the plans for Half Moon Lane and the junction with the South Douglas road will cost upwards of €200,000.

Pedestrian access to Tramore Valley Park remains restricted

Update 10th Sept 2019 : It looks as if the Half Moon Lane entrance will be closed for at least another 9 months.

This was the answer given to Cllr. Mick Finn at a Cork City Council Meeting on the 9th of Sept 2019...

The key point in there is 'vehicular access' from the Half Moon Lane entrance. Access for pedestrians, runners and cyclists could be done straight away.

****

Back at the end of May of 2019, the Tramore Valley Park in Cork City finally opened to the public after many years of delay. Despite this, there is still only one pedestrian access three months later.

The only pedestrian access point as of August 2019 is a walkway from Douglas shown in purple above. This is 1.2 kms in length. The only other way to access the park is to actually drive there.

The northern access point via the Half Moon Lane shown in red above is still closed to the public.

This means that some of the people that actually live closest to the park have to drive there to get access.

I understand that it remains closed due to concerns of some 'state bodies' and 'a lack of parking'.

So far, there has been three months of inaction by Cork City Council and the risk is that this will drag on for ages like the opening of the park.

Priority should be given to people that want to walk, run and cycle in the park. There shouldn't be a presumption that everyone wants to drive there.