Hope for ‘significant difference’ on long-awaited traffic calming on residential northside road

LONG-AWAITED traffic-calming measures for Cork’s Harbour View Rd are set to go to public consultation in the coming days, with local representatives hopeful that what is proposed will make a “significant difference” in the area.

Local residents have lobbied extensively for traffic-calming measures on Harbour View Rd after two high-profile incidents on the road in 2020 which included one fatality, that of 16-year-old Kimberly O’Connor.

Last November a spokesperson for Cork City Council told The Echo that a preliminary design was under way on a scheme that would include a mixture of raised tables and traffic light interventions “designed to ensure that vehicles using the road travel at the appropriate speed”.

At a North West Local Area Committee (LAC) meeting on Monday, councillors were informed that public consultation, through a section 38 process, will commence in the coming days.

The scheme would deliver a new table-top ramp on the road in addition to modifications to an existing pedestrian crossing that would also see it turned into a ramp.

“The lights will also be altered to ensure that they start to go red when speed is detected,” Sinn Féin councillor Mick Nugent told The Echo.

“You also have the existing driver feedback signs on the road. Hopefully, all that put together will make a significant difference.

“The scheme has been agreed by the LAC and funding has been allocated for it.

“I think it will be very much welcomed by residents on Harbour View Rd and the wider area,” said Mr Nugent.

The Harbour View Rd scheme will go to public consultation along with other proposed traffic calming works for a slew of other areas including Sundays Well Avenue, John F Connolly Rd, Douglas Hall Lawn, and Cross Douglas Rd.

“I’m delighted that Cork City Council now will advertise the traffic calming works for these specific areas,” said Fianna Fáil councillor Tony Fitzgerald.

“There is a long list of areas that need traffic calming and we’ve achieved a lot in many areas.”

Mr Fitzgerald, who has lived on Harbour View Rd for over 40 years, spoke to the importance of traffic calming works on the busy thoroughfare.

“It’s the main artery to the industrial estate in Hollyhill and out into Blarney and out into Clogheen and that area so it’s a road used by many motorists,” he said.

“Residents have been consulted and we will engage with them again and ensure the proposals meet the local needs in the area.”