€170m to be spent on 'active travel projects' across Cork

Emphasis will be on connecting housing estates with schools, village/town cores and employment hubs

The Passage West to Carrigaloe cross-river ferry.

About €170m is expected to be spent on 'active travel projects' in Co Cork over the next five years, with a major emphasis on connecting housing estates with schools, village/town cores and employment hubs.

Michael Lynch, director of the council's planning department, outlined proposals for the projects. The bulk of the money is to be spent in the Cork Metropolitan Area (CMA), which encompasses the likes of Carrigaline, Carrigtwohill, Passage West, Midleton and Cobh.

About €120m will be spent in the CMA, with €50m going to projects in rural towns and villages.

Mr Lynch said €20.5m will be spent on projects this year, with €5.9m in towns and villages outside the CMA.

The council has a multi-disciplinary team of 18 staff overseeing the projects.

Bicycle parking bays will be created in many areas, along with extensive footpath widening programmes, the development of more walking/cycling areas and an additional 170 pedestrian crossings.

More bus stops will be created and there will also be improvements to public realm areas.

Mr Lynch outlined a number of projects planned, but added that “it's an evolving programme” which will be ironed out with each of the county's eight municipal district councils.

Every town and village to benefit

Nearly every town and village in the county will benefit from projects of varying sizes.

“In a nutshell, it's about connecting people with where they live and work. It will be transformative,” he said.

The plans, for example, involve a new cycleway from the cross-river ferry to the train station in Cobh. A cycleway/walkway will also be developed in Mallow, connecting the town centre to the train station.

A cycleway/walkway will connect Carrigaline with Passage West and Ringaskiddy.

In Kinsale, a similar project is proposed which will link the town centre with schools, the GAA grounds and connect onto a 3.7km loop walk.

Fianna Fáil councillor Sheila O'Callaghan said a recently opened cycleway/walkway in her home village of Watergrasshill provides great connectivity between the village core and the GAA pitch.

“The only bugbear I have with these projects is the delay in the ESB connecting lighting for them,” she said.

Fine Gael councillor Michael Hegarty described it as “a great initiative", especially as more people had taken to cycling and walking during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

“These projects represent great value for money. They will all take our towns and villages in a much better direction,” Green councillor Alan O'Connor said.

Fine Gael councillor John O'Sullivan said there would need to be local buy-in from the public and a need to connect more schools to sporting grounds.

Mr Lynch said his suggestion would be taken on board and it was likely such connections would be created, provided the distances between them aren't too great.

“We meet the NTA monthly and we've also been successful in getting additional funding in recent years at the end of the year,” Mr Lynch added.