Cork North Ring Road (The Present One)

AugustusMinimus · 22-01-2015 11:35pm #1

Its a road which I don't think I've ever seen discussed on here. It is the main artery keeping the North side flowing, from Blackpool all the way through the Glen, Ballyvolane, Mayfield and Tivoli.

Its a road I'd be interesting to know more about. Its history, when the various sections were built etc.

Just like the South Ring Road, the present North Ring Road was built piecemeal. The oldest way I can remember the road was when it began at Tivoli and ended by dumping traffic directly into the middle of Blackpool. These were pre Blackpool bypass days.

Anyways, lets try to break this road up into its constituent parts and analyse it a bit.

Tivoli to Mayfield
This section really interests me. As a young fella, I remember the flyover on the Lower Glanmire Road being constructed. In retrospect, I simply do not understand how this junction must have functioned with it being grade separated. Any memories of traffic chaos here would be most welcome.

Looking at this section, I cannot tell whether this was a completely new build or simply the widening of an existing stretch. The lack of housing on this stretch leads me to believe it was new. Looking on google maps, the starting section seems to go through a wood which makes a new build all the more likely.

At a guess, there must have been an existing road linking Colmcille Avenue with Silverheights Drive and Silvercourt but little more.

Mayfield to Ballyvolane
Again, this section to me looks like a completely new build. This section of road IMO is vital to traffic flow in the area. Without it, traffic would depend on The Old Youghal Road which is incredibly tight and narrow at the Summerhill End.

Ballyvolane to Blackpool
The final section of the North Ring Road, brings traffic from Ballyvolane to the junction which links it with both the Blackpool bypass and the start of the N20. As I've said earlier, my early memories of this section was a road which abruptly ended in the middle of Blackpool. Dumping traffic like this into a street which was already heavily congested was madness to say the least.

Looking at google maps, it appears to me that to travel west-east using the pre-existing road network, involved using Spring Lawn, Ballyvolane Road and where the present map says Valebrook and Ashgrove View. Sadly, you can no longer travel this section of road as some connecting parts have been permanently blocked.

So, can anyone add to what I have written. Memories of this road being built and upgrades throughout the years. Its obvious that this stretch of road has reached its capacity a long time ago and the proposed Cork NRR badly needs to be built.

In retrospect, this road had to be built. The N8 and N20 had to be linked. The road infrastructure in the area built were also probably not capable for traffic levels. However, its not all good. I feel the road itself has a quite negative effect on Mayfield for instance. Like a lot of major roads, it clearly divides Mayfield into 2 halves. Not a good thing for the community that lives there.

Frostybrew · 23-01-2015 7:41pm

The first section to be constructed was the Mayfield to Ballyvolane section, probably in the early 70's to give access to the newly built NBA housing estates. I'm not sure if this section was built as part of a future ring road, as the idea of a north ring road may only have come into being in the late 70's with the creation of the LUTS plan. I could be completely wrong on this point though. Interestingly the Mayfield end of this section continued into Springfield Road, which was not a cul de sac at the time.

The Mayfield to Tivoli section was constructed in the late seventies or early eighties, terminating at the little laneway that is now a cul de sac next to the flyover, just off the N8. The flyover wasn't opened until 1988.

The Ballyvolane to Spring Lane section opened in the mid eighties. This section was completed in the late eighties with the construction of the railway bridge, and the road terminated at Thomas Davis Street in Blackpool.

Chris_5339762 · 23-01-2015 9:38pm

I remember the Tivoli flyover opening too

https://www.google.ie/maps/@51.903099,-8.426232,3a,75y,16.31h,82.67t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1srOxg8i3wTJKKJbMb9e8PdA!2e0?hl=en

That used to be the old road... narrowed by a bit since.

I remember the Blackpool bypass being built... quite a bit of an achievement fitting it all in and it probably wouldn't be built nowadays. I remember large blocks of crappy flats being demolished to build it.

OSI maps are really good for the Blackpool bypass.

http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,567589,573012,6,5

Ortho 1995 is pre-bypass
Ortho 2000 is during construction
Ortho 2005 is post construction.

Edit: Why was Blackpool bypassed anyway? Was it really that much of a massive bottleneck?

Carawaystick · 24-01-2015 12:51am

I remember the tivoli overpass getting built, before trucks had to cross the skew bridge and swing out wide to make the hairpin left into the port.

I think the Blackpool bypass was half to speed up traffic and half to improve Blackpool quality of life, instead of having it choked with traffic. There wasn't much between Murphy's and the hill

Subpopulus · 28-01-2015 11:04pm

The LUTS plan of 1978 shows the Mayfield to Ballyvolane section built, with the southern leg extending down as far as Silverhieghts estate. The map is faint but it shows a narrow road continuing down and ending at Castle Avenue - the little lane that's now next to the flyover bridge. So this appears to have been widened out to a proper road in the early 80s. LUTS suggests connecting the NRR down through the Glen to meet a bypass at Blackpool - I don't know if this is a development of an earlier plan or if LUTS was the first to suggest this.

In retrospect it's hard to imagine how bad traffic must have been in Cork in the mid-70s. This was before the South Link was built, before the Jack Lynch tunnel, before the bridges were built at the Custom House and at the Opera House, before the Watercourse Road. Obviously there was much less traffic but the road network was essentially the same one since the 19th century, with all traffic going straight into the city centre, and coming to a standstill for much of the time. And when you think of the emissions standards back then, the air quality must have been awful.

Many of the road improvements built since LUTS have improved the situation by keeping the worst of the traffic away from the most sensitive spots, but at the same time this just encourages more traffic into the city centre. Can't win sometimes. On the whole, LUTS was a fairly enlightened plan for its day, since it wasn't suggesting building motorways through the city centre like an earlier plan of the 70s. So thankfully Cork managed to escape the worst excesses of 1960s and 70s urban traffic engineering, unlike many UK cities...

AugustusMinimus · 01-02-2015 4:45pm

IMO, the weakest part of the Cork network now is the missing gap between the end of the South Link and the start of the Blackpool bypass. To get between the 2, involved driving quays which has awful traffic during daytime.

Completely unreasonable but imagine a tunnel under the city centre between the 2.

The missing North - South link.

Pablo Escobar · 02-02-2015 12:25am

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

IMO, the weakest part of the Cork network now is the missing gap between the end of the South Link and the start of the Blackpool bypass. To get between the 2, involved driving quays which has awful traffic during daytime.

Completely unreasonable but imagine a tunnel under the city centre between the 2. The missing North - South link.

These is a plan to connect Blackpool with the South Ring over the next few years. Connecting with the South link would not be feasible. The costs would be huge.

AugustusMinimus · 02-02-2015 2:05am

Pablo Escobar wrote: »

These is a plan to connect Blackpool with the South Ring over the next few years. Connecting with the South link would not be feasible. The costs would be huge.

There's a plan to link the N40/N22 to the M20 via the N40 North Ring Road, Western Section. However, the eastern section will be built first due to traffic levels and also due to the fact that the western section will involve the construction of an expensive viaduct.

Producer Ben · 04-02-2015 12:44am

What eastern section are you referring to Augustus? From Dunkettle to the N20? That is badly needed IMO. The traffic build up along the Tivoli dual carriageway to the flyover and up the north ring is very heavy especially in the evenings.

I often need to travel from the west of the city to Mallow and even though this would take me the long way around the city I'd rather that than being parked on the quays.

AugustusMinimus · 05-02-2015 9:07am

Eastern section will run from Glanmire to Blarney and the western section will run from Ballincollig to Blarney.

Expect the eastern section to be built in conjunction with the M20. It will involve a few tunnel IIRC.

Could be a while before the western section is built.

http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2055557290/2

Check out that thread.

Subpopulus · 05-02-2015 6:19pm

There's no tunnelled portions for the eastern section. There's a however a reasonably large viaduct near the M8.

The western section might have a tunnel, but the route hasn't been decided yet.

Cork North Ring Road (The Present One)

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