Irish Examiner view: Welcome news that Cork Northern Ring Road plans reactivated

The crash of 2008 stymied a Northern Ring Road for Cork but those ambitions are, thankfully, active again. Picture: Larry Cummins.

That old saying — everything comes to those who wait — is apt in relation to grand infrastructure projects. Though the national children’s hospital stretches that optimism, progress on the €280m Macroom bypass, after decades of broken promises, gives it credence. That credence will be confirmed if it is completed by its promised 2023 date. So too do the €215m works upgrading the Dunkettle interchange.

The Cork Northern Ring Road plan.

Those schemes are part of an incomplete network around Cork city and harbour despite earlier efforts to complete the circle. The crash of 2008 stymied a Northern Ring Road for Cork but those ambitions are, thankfully, active again.

Cork City Council will lead the project as it controls the majority of the land required. The artery will link the M8 (Cork-Dublin motorway) with the planned M20 (Cork-Limerick motorway) and the South Ring Road near Ballincollig delivering a long-held objective. That it is just one of a number of important proposals outlined in the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy can only be welcomed as we begin to think of how we might cope with the pandemic’s legacy.