Anybody commute from Cork city to Limerick

DrMicrobe

Hey lads,
Just accepted a place at UL starting in September. My question is, how long does it take to drive from Cork city to UL-do many people do this drive every day?? What is the road like?? Im from Dublin but have some friends from cork and thinking of doing to commute!! :)

topper75

I'd advise against. The road, in places, is not what you would expect between a 2nd and 3rd city. It demands concentration. Doing it every day would wear you down. It is about 1 hour 15mins. So you are talking about 2.5 every day you have college. There is a decent stock of accomm around the UL campus and all over Limerick city in general and you should get some value somewhere. Can pop down to friends in Cork as you like then.

Things is, when your trip involves 65 miles of distance and 1. 25hrs of time, there is high potential of cockups at some stage - buildback in Charleville, crash on Croom bypass, tractor or truck leaving Mallow - whatever. You might miss lectures/tutorials and just get frustrated. Morning sessions would mean braving the morning rushhour then as you approach Limerick on the dual carriageway and the ringroad around to UL. All in all, not fun.

Chris_533976

Dont do it, its a shocking road in places and the most depressing drive ever. Get accomodation in UL, get an extra few hours of sleep and save the petrol money and wear & tear on the car.

Raiser

You'd be mad - that road is actually very, very poor for long stretches - about 150 years behind the rest of Europe for a link between two large Cities.

Zoney

You can get yourself set up pretty cheaply in Castletroy if you don't rush into taking on a place (there are plenty) and if you stay in a house rather than apartment. Limerick-Cork is too far for commute IMO but it's a short enough trip for frequent trips - so you'd be set up well for visiting friends in Cork. Plus if it's any consideration it's quicker for getting back to Dublin. You may even find it useful being a short enough distance from Galway too (there should even be a train service sometime in the next 12 months).

Also whatever about Limerick itself, there's plenty to do at UL as its sort of a settlement of its own - imagine a town of 1000s of students living in one place. You might find that there'd be a lot you'd miss out on not staying at UL.

Having a car you'd be sorted, as the one thing about UL is many come to loathe and despise the city bus service providing UL's link with any other civilisation. Indeed if you've business in Raheen/Caherdavin you'd usually have a second bus trip. It's like a version of Dublin Bus hell in minature with even less timeliness and capacity.

Davidth88

I had a friend who lived in Limerick and worked in Cork for a time.

After about 6 months he was ready to ' top himself ' , the road is just brutal.

He moved after 6 months

Tech3

DrMicrobe wrote: »

Hey lads,
Just accepted a place at UL starting in September. My question is, how long does it take to drive from Cork city to UL

About 1hr and 30 mins if your lucky.

do many people do this drive every day??

I dont think so. If they do they need their heads examined.

What is the road like??

One of the worst National primary roads in the country. Has been ignored for several years especially Mallow-Croom. So overall its sh**e!

Im from Dublin but have some friends from cork and thinking of doing to commute!! :)

You would be crazy to commute everyday. Accomadation is cheap in Limerick realitive to other cities and even towns in the country. Limerick is a nice place to live overall too especially at Castletroy(UL) and Raheen.

marmurr1916

DrMicrobe wrote: »

What is the road like??

Cork to Mallow - pretty good. Short stretch of dual-carriageway from outskirts of Cork to turnoff for Blarney, then mainly wide road (with climbing lane on uphill sections) and 2+1 to Mallow.

Mallow to Charleville - pretty sh*te. Short stretch of decent quality road between Mallow and New Twopothouse, then rubbish road (narrow, tight bends, bumpy, potholed surface) between there and north of Buttevant. Decent enough road from north of Buttevant to Charleville, although not easy to overtake, Charleville can be a big bottleneck.

Charleville to Croom - not great. Pretty narrow road, mainly straight and surface is generally acceptable but almost impossible to overtake.

Croom - Limerick - best section. Croom bypass is ultra-wide single-carriageway (easy to overtake), leads onto dual-carriageway (soon to be redesignated as motorway) from junction with N21 to eastern side of Limerick, close to UL.

Overall advice: don't commute from Cork to Limerick unless you're a masochist.

Run_to_da_hills

I wouldn't advise anyone to commute on this stretch of road on a motorbike until the deadly cable barriers are removed from the 2+1 stretch between mallow and Cork city.

TiwstaSista

let's just cross our fingers and hope she'll get used to commuting daily. soon it would feel like it's only 20 minutes drive.:)

DrMicrobe

hi Guys,
Thanks for all of the posts!!! Really helpful, decided to get some accomodation on campus as it seems like the sain thing to do:):). How long is it from UL to tullamore as I will have placements here in my third year!! Is the motorway from Limerick to Nenagh open yet??

Tech3

DrMicrobe wrote: »

hi Guys,
Thanks for all of the posts!!! Really helpful, decided to get some accomodation on campus as it seems like the sain thing to do:):). How long is it from UL to tullamore as I will have placements here in my third year!! Is the motorway from Limerick to Nenagh open yet??

When is your third year? All sections of the M7 will be completed by the end of next year. Nenagh-Limerick looks likely to be completed December this year but should have been completed in May due to problems with the contractors.

Tullamore is 1hr 40min at the min according to Google maps. When the whole M7 is complete it would be good to take the M7 to Portlaoise instead and then the N80 to Tullamore.

parsi

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I wouldn't advise anyone to commute on this stretch of road on a motorbike until the deadly cable barriers are removed from the 2+1 stretch between mallow and Cork city.

Yeah.. 'cos the rest of the road is so perfect.

OP - don't do it. It's a horrible road (in total). Full of gobdaws especially around Buttevant and Charleville.

Amtmann

My friend spent the past five years commuting every day between west of Skibbereen and Cork City using the N71. Worse than anything the N20 has to offer. The only reason she did it was because she absolutely had no choice. It wore her down awfully and cost her a fortune.
Move to Limerick, OP!

corktina

Alternative....M8 to Mitchelstown and then R513 that links up on to the Tipperary Road N24 just outside Limerick, brings you almost to the doorstep of UL without getting stuck on the bypass.....

shoegirl

If you were living in Mallow or closer I'd say do it, but not from Cork city. Its appalling. Loads of slow drivers on the single lane stretches especially between Charleville to Mallow. I mean 30 mph slow langers in the middle of the road.

With rents as they are at the moment you'd be better off getting a cheap single room on the outskirts of Limerick and driving from there. Not sure what the story currently is on student parking in UL - usually most universities are not too keen on thousands of students descending upon the place in cars and place stringent limits on parking.

Micky Dolenz

I'd say you'd be lucky to do it in two hours, have you checked out train and bus? Ball breaker no matter how you go about it.