Long-awaited Cork road project expected to go to public consultation in the coming weeks

Northside representatives have welcomed news that the planned route of Cork city’s long-awaited Northern Distributor Road is expected to go for non-statutory public consultation in the coming weeks.

Members of Cork City Council are expected to receive a briefing on Thursday, February 27, ahead of the public consultation, which is due to commence next month.

The non-statutory public consultation is expected to include a number of open days, presentations, and public meetings, as well as a website.

Proposals for the multi-modal Cork Northern Distributor Road were contained in the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (CMATS), published in 2020, which detailed the transportation investment required to support the development of Cork until 2040.

Approximately 14km in length, the proposed distributor road would provide a strategic orbital transport corridor around the northside of Cork city, including bus lanes and bus stops, cycle lanes, footpaths, pedestrian crossings, as well as the traffic lanes in each direction.

The Northern Distributor Road would be a separate project to the long-proposed Cork Northern Ring Road, which was also referenced in CMATS.

The Northern Ring Road, which has been on various drawing boards for 20 years, is proposed from the South Ring Road west of the city, extending north east past Ballincollig, Blarney and Monard, linking with the planned M20 Cork-to-Limerick motorway and the M8 Cork-to-Dublin motorway.

There has been a broad welcome for the news that the Northern-Distributor Road plans are due to go to public consultation, with some criticism of the length of time the project is taking.

Labour Party councillor John Maher said that the road had first been mooted in 1982, the year he was born, and “the days of talking are over”.

“The new route will create a balance between the city, both northside and southside, freeing the communities of the northside of thousands of HGVs and car traffic every day." 

Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, Thomas Gould, said the pace of the project was “completely unacceptable”.

“We are a 21st century city on 20th century roads. It is holding back growth and potential in Cork, especially on the northside,” he said.

His council colleague, councillor Kenneth Collins, said it was positive to see that the road has been progressing through a seven-step process, “but it shouldn’t take four years to appoint a design team”.

“We need to see real progress made this year, as I know that our public transport system and people who commute to work are relying on this road,” he said.

Welcoming the news, Fianna Fáil councillor Dr John Sheehan said the road was a vital piece of infrastructure for the northside and had to be done right.

“The construction is often the very shortest part of the process, but you have to get it right, and we’d all be criticising them if they rushed it and they didn’t do it properly,” he said.

“You want it done as soon as possible, but the nature of these designs and the taking on of issues, such as land acquisition and things like that, they’re going to take some time.”