Final adjustments made to controversial Cork city road scheme

“Final design adjustments” have been made to a controversial road scheme at St Luke’s last week, Cork City Council has confirmed.

The changes, including increasing the radius on the left turn from Middle Glanmire Road onto Summerhill North, are being made to the Safe Routes to School programme for St Luke’s National School.

The scheme saw the closure of the left vehicular slip road from Middle Glanmire Rd onto Summerhill North, along with works on Ballyhooly Rd, Wellington Rd, and O’Mahony’s Ave.

Independent Ireland’s Noel O’Flynn recently appealed to council management: “The vast majority of motorists from the estates on Middle Glanmire Road use this junction to exit onto Summerhill North or Wellington Road for schools or Ballyhooly Road,” he said. 

“The side lane to Summerhill North was a very important exit lane. Now that you are reducing it to one lane, I foresee a huge build-up of traffic on the Middle Glanmire Road during peak morning and evening times.”

Welcome for road widening

He welcomed the widening of the turn radius, but told The Echo that council officials “seem determined to go ahead with very little changes – I don’t think this will be enough.

“The present layout will cause chaos when schools are back. I hope we won’t have a serious accident.”

Green party councillor Oliver Moran said delays and other issues had let the project down.

“I’ve been going back and forth with officials about different issues for months. As soon as one thing is resolved, something else comes up. It’s been like whack-a-mole.”

He said that he thought that pedestrianising the slip road was ultimately a good idea, “but it’s not easy to argue the case when there are so many other obvious mistakes being made alongside it.”

He added that the recent changes include the turning radius being made bigger, coming out from Middle Glanmire Road, which should make it easier for motorists joining Summer Hill from Middle Glanmire Road.

“The new works are going to be resurfaced (and relined) as part of the planned resurfacing of Ballyhooly Road, which will improve the finish. On the O’Mahony’s Avenue side, a ghost island will be added to the right on Lower Glanmire Road for vehicles exiting from Lower Grattan Hill, where there already is a double yellow line to emphasise the point to keep sightlines clear.”

A council spokesperson said: “Safety of vulnerable road users is the top priority, and increased traffic delays can sometimes be an unavoidable outcome.”