Councillor welcomes progress on road project 'essential for Cork’s future'

Progress on the Cork northern distributor multi-modal road has been welcomed, following a detailed update from Cork City Council this week.

Director of infrastructure development at Cork City Council Gerry O’Beirne recently provided an update on the project to Tony Fitzgerald, Fianna Fáil councillor for Cork City North West and party candidate for Cork North Central in the upcoming general election.

Mr O’Beirne said the proposed road will provide a strategic orbital transport corridor around the northside of Cork city, improving the city’s overall transport network.

Approximately 14km in length, the road will include dedicated bus lanes and related infrastructure such as bus stops, dedicated cycle lanes, high-quality footpaths, pedestrian crossings, as well as the traffic lanes in each direction.

The strategic assessment of the road was completed and approved in December 2023 and the project is currently at the route options report stage, where consideration will be given to the viable alternative routes, with an assessment of these options against a set of standard assessment topics.

Mr O’Beirne said the resultant route options report will be finalised and submitted to the National Transport Authority (NTA) this month.

Following receipt of NTA approval, the related non-statutory public consultation process will be undertaken and is anticipated to commence before the end of the year.

The consultation process will inform the details of the final route to be brought forward into the preliminary design stage.

It is anticipated that the design team will be progressing with that phase of the scheme in the coming year.

Praising the advancement of the project as it reaches the route options report stage, Mr Fitzgerald described the project as “essential” to Cork’s future.

“The northern distributor road is essential for Cork’s future, improving connectivity while easing traffic in the city,” he said.

“It’s an ambitious project that reflects our commitment to sustainable development and long-term economic growth for Cork.”