MacCurtain St two-way system will 'dramatically improve' transport facilities in city centre

Cork City Council has said that the MacCurtain Street Public Transport Improvement Scheme will “dramatically improve” the transport facilities and public realm across a large area of the city.

The project is now in the final phases of delivery and works are anticipated to be fully complete before the end of the year.

Director of Services of Infrastructure Development Gerry O’Beirne said the scheme, which covers a large area of the city centre with improvement works undertaken on Wellington Rd, MacCurtain St, Bridge St, Lavitt’s Quay, Merchants Quay, Anderson's Quay, Penrose Quay, Patrick’s Quay, Pine St, Devonshire St, Coburg St, and Leitrim St, is “a significant sustainable transport and public realm improvement project”.

His comments come in response to a question put forward by Fine Gael Councillor Des Cahill at a recent meeting of Cork City Council.

Mr Cahill asked if the chief executive is confident that the two-way system will work properly and safely and if the width of the new road layout will be sufficient for both buses and trucks to traverse safely.

In response, Mr O’Beirne assured that the design of the scheme and traffic changes introduced to date allows for the movement of services and freight along the quays while maintaining access to the area for deliveries.

“The public realm design of the street promotes MacCurtain Street as a key destination for business and recreation with a primary focus on improved street activity, improved streetscape, enhanced pedestrian facilities alongside a high level of public transport connectivity,” he said.

“To maximise the benefits and take advantage of these new measures, several bus routes will operate in both directions on Coburg Street, Bridge Street and MacCurtain Street.

“These routes can take advantage of the reduced traffic volumes on MacCurtain Street as well as new bus priority measures throughout the scheme to improve both bus journey times and reliability.

“Since construction commenced over 20 months ago, extensive work has been successfully undertaken and the most significant traffic changes and much of the public realm works are now complete.” 

Speaking about the reintroduction of two-way vehicular movement on MacCurtain Street that the scheme provides for, he said: “As a result of the changes already introduced in the surrounding area, the future levels of vehicular movement on the street will be a small proportion of the movements experienced when the street operated as a one way through route.

“The scheme is and will continue to operate as planned and it has been subject to the normal road safety audit requirements throughout the design and delivery phases. The carriageway widths are appropriate for the area and are fully in accordance with current design standards. The scheme will dramatically improve the transport facilities and public realm across a large area within the city centre.”