Further delays in plan to open pedestrian access to Tramore Valley Park

Covid-19 and level 5 restrictions have hampered efforts to open a pedestrian access on Half Moon Lane

Main entrance to Tramore Valley Park from the N27 South Link Road, a section of road with a 100km speed limit. Pedestrians and cyclists are using the junction to access the park. Picture: Larry Cummins

Lockdown has delayed efforts to open a second pedestrian access route into Cork’s vast Tramore Valley Park.

The news has been greeted with dismay by people who live in the suburbs on the park’s northern flank, who have no option but to drive to its main entrance off the N27 South Link Rd.

A campaign has been under way since the near 70-hectare urban park was officially opened in May 2019 to improve its pedestrian and cycling access points.

Campaigners have repeatedly called on City Hall to open to the public a council maintenance gate on Half Moon Lane on the northern side of the park.

Those calls mounted during the first lockdown, and intensified during the latest lockdown, as people sought exercise opportunities within their own 5km.

But at this month’s city council meeting, councillors were told that the process to start work on a major upgrade of Half Moon Lane to facilitate the gate opening  — a scheme which was approved late last year — has been delayed by the latest level 5 Covid-19 restrictions.

In response to a question from Fine Gael councillor Shane O’Callaghan, the council’s director of operations, David Joyce, said the process for the detailed design of the scheme, including the preparation of tender documents, issuing of tenders, and the appointment of a contractor, has commenced.

“The process has been delayed due to the current Covid level 5 restrictions. This process will take approximately eight to ten weeks,” he said.

“An application for funding has been submitted to the National Transport Authority and a decision on this application is due shortly.” 

Only two entrances to the park are in use — the main vehicular entrance off the South Link Rd and a pedestrian access from the south-eastern side, along a path near Willow Park, close to Gaelscoil na Dúglaise.

The maintenance gate on Half Moon Lane is only available to council work crews.

City Hall has always said it recognises the need and demand for access to the park along this route, but the gate has remained shut to the public.

Officials said they had to first assess the lane to ensure the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, while also taking into consideration the safe movement of local vehicular traffic.

This time last year, councillors were told that it could more than a year to deliver the required upgrades to the lane to ensure this safe access.

Detailed plans were drawn up, including new footpaths on Half Moon Lane and South Douglas Rd, a new signalised junction with controlled pedestrian crossing, new public lighting, traffic calming measures, improved road markings and new signage, and carriageway resurfacing, they were advertised last August and subsequently approved by council late last year.

The park was developed on the site of the city’s former landfill, which was decommissioned in 2009.

Following a €40m remediation project, the park opened to the public in 2019.

Just 3km from the city centre, it features walkways and trails, including a 2.5km looped walkway named after world race-walking champion, Rob Heffernan, an all-weather events and amenity area, a grass pitch, an international standard BMX track, an outdoor gym, a wetlands area, and a raised dome area which provides 360-degree panoramic views of the city east and west.

City officials say they plan to increase its range of attractions in the next few years to ensure the park becomes a recreational and activity-based amenity of regional importance.