Cork City Council cuts 120m of bike lane from neighbourhood scheme 

The original plan was amended to facilitate on-street parking for several healthcare premises

City councillors voted 19-8 in favour of proceeding with an amended version of the Curraheen Rd pedestrian and cycle safety improvement scheme. Picture: Denis Minihane

A 120m section of bike lane has been dropped from a large safe cycling scheme in Cork City to facilitate on-street parking for several healthcare premises.

City councillors voted 19-8 in favour of proceeding with an amended version of the Curraheen Rd pedestrian and cycle safety improvement scheme.

Plans for the project, which set out to deliver segregated cycle lanes from the UCC sports grounds along Curraheen Rd, running past Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh, to the junction with Melbourn Rd, where protected cycle lanes have already been installed, were published by Cork City Council for public consultation before Christmas.

The plan was hailed as having the potential to create Cork’s first “15-minute neighbourhood”, connecting two major health campuses, Marymount and Cork University Hospital, and a safe cycling route to a number of schools.

Submissions received

In a report to the council on Monday, councillors were told that 98 submissions were received during the public consultation, with the vast majority expressing full or broad support for the scheme.

But several submissions raised concerns about the removal of on-street parking from outside healthcare facilities between Rossa Avenue and Melbourn Rd and outlined the likely effect of such measures on access to a pharmacy, a doctor’s surgery, and a physiotherapy practice.

The city’s head of infrastructure, Gerry O’Beirne, said three options were then considered, including:

• Delivering the scheme as advertised, with no changes;
• Removing a 200m section of bike lane scheme between Rossa Ave and Melbourn Rd, which would allay concerns relating to the healthcare facilities but would not address any of the other deficiencies along this section of road;
• Proceeding with the scheme as published, but removing 120m of the bike lane between Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh and Melbourn Rd.

Amid fears the scheme was being watered down, medics and cycling campaigners called on politicians to stick to the original plan.

Councillor Paudie Dineen questioned whether Cork City was "dynamically built for cycling". Fine Gael councillor Derry Canty and Fianna Fáil councillor John Sheehan said they believed parking, especially for elderly patients, should be facilitated outside the healthcare facilities.

However, Labour councillor John Maher said councillors have to deliver infrastructure and make the hard decisions that go with that. He said he did not believe that any business would close as a result of a bike lane.

Green Party councillor Dan Boyle said the debate over this project has been had in other cities around the world, and he said the city has made great progress on the delivery of bike lanes over the last two years but expressed concerns there was now a danger of “diluting that success” if the wrong decisions are made.

He warned that future government funding for bike lane infrastructure could be at risk if the city goes in the wrong direction.