Traffic Hotspots in Cork City

tooler08

I'll be moving down to Cork this summer to work out in Ringaskiddy and I'm looking at houses.

The people I'm going down with want to be able to walk into the city, but as I'm driving I don't want to be stuck in traffic for ages every morning.

I've been looking at houses around Douglass but I'm not sure if that is close enough to the city to walk in.

My question is : how close to the city can I get and still avoid traffic out to Ringaskiddy?

Cheers

Solair

Douglas Shopping Centre to Patrick Street is almost 5km. It would take you up to 50 minutes to walk.

Douglas itself, covers a wide enough area, so depending on which bit of it you're talking about you could be anything up to an hour walking in.

There's regular bus services on routes: 207, 206 and 216 as well as routes to Carrigaline, Monkstown, Passagewest and Crosshaven that pass through Douglas.

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Traffic hotspots :

The junction at the centre of Douglas village is hugely problematic at busy times in both directions. So is the roundabout on the Back Douglas Road.

Rochestown Road can be very slow in the mornings too, as can any of the narrower bits around Rochestown in general.

The routes into the City Centre move, but they're busy at times. So, really you need to allow enough time to get in and out at peak times.

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Traffic to Ringaskiddy will mostly move along the N40 South Ring and N28 from there to Ringaskiddy rather than over minor roads.

If you're in Douglas, you'd be accessing the N28 directly from the 'Finger Post Roundabout" via the old Carrigaline Road.

The junction is here

If you're coming from almost any other part of the city to the N28 you'd access it via the N40 South Ring.

So that junction above and Douglas village would be your main choke points if you're heading to Ringaskiddy.

You can also access Ringaskiddy via the backroads through the minor roads via Passage West or by going cross-country.
I'm not sure how badly they clog up in the mornings.

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Traffic into the city in the mornings tends to use the N40 mostly, so in-bound traffic hotspots tend to be access routes to the N40.

tooler08

Thanks a mill !

Would there be any areas inside the south ring road that would avoid the city traffic?

Solair

tooler08 wrote: »

Thanks a mill !

Would there be any areas inside the south ring road that would avoid the city traffic?

To be honest, the city traffic tends to move, albeit slowly. The problems are actually in Douglas Village itself.

The junction at the centre of the village is just a complete disaster. It tends to clog even in moderate traffic due to the design, rather than the volumes.
The Well Road is also a complete nightmare in traffic.

I'd suggest testing the routes out in the morning before signing any leases.

Cork actually has pretty excellent road infrastructure, especially around the southern ring of the city, so in general if you're coming in via the major routes, the traffic flows. It will get heavy, but it generally gets there without massive problems. Just allow time. It's not a complete log-jam most of the time.

All of the really problematic areas are minor roads and weird junctions in suburbs themselves.

Also, just be aware that there are really huge scale road works going on on the N40 itself to remove to junctions at Wilton and Bishopstown (Western suburbs). When complete, there will be no blocking junctions on the N40 at all, i.e. it's basically becomes motorway-quality (other than the designation of N) from the Northern side of the Tunnel to the end of the N40 beyond Ballincollig.

The projects involve installing grade-separated junctions and large sections of elevated roadway similar to the junction at South Link (N27) and South Ring (N40) - The old Kinsale Road Roundabout.

That's causing big delays at the moment, but it will be complete in a few months and traffic should flow much more smoothly West Bound.

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Personally, I'd stay closer to the city. You'll be OK traffic wise once you plan your route well and you've the advantages of things like a really nice and buzzing city centre, decent night life, loads of restaurants and other niceties like 150Mbit/s broadband if you can get UPC (available in most of Douglas and City in general)

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Also, much like Dublin, traffic peaks heavily after about 8:15 or so. So, if you're gone by 8:00, it usually flies along quite comfortably.

Balmed Out

Perhaps the boreenmana road in ballinlough (on the city side). Its very accessible to the link being just off the kinsale road and its a short stroll to the city centre.
OR in the same area but even closer and get somewhere around anglasee street.

Solair

In general, traffic from the City Centre / out is fine.
The whole issue will be Douglas Village.

If you're in town / on the Boreenmana Road etc.. you can just go onto the South Link (N27), South Ring (N40) and Ringaskiddy on the N28 totally avoiding suburban traffic.

Your route would be like this

Effectively going over the top of Douglas on the N40 which is elevated right across the South City area there.

AugustusMinimus

Boreenamanna Road is an excellent suggestion.

Easy access to the South Link Road and from there it is dual carriageway all the way to south of Douglas if going to Ringaskiddy.

The biggest problem is the return trip as you cannot do a right turn from the South Link Road onto the Boreenamanna Road. Shouldn't be a huge problem though.

Solair

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

Boreenamanna Road is an excellent suggestion.

Easy access to the South Link Road and from there it is dual carriageway all the way to south of Douglas if going to Ringaskiddy.

The biggest problem is the return trip as you cannot do a right turn from the South Link Road onto the Boreenamanna Road. Shouldn't be a huge problem though.

You could go to Mahon Point exit on N40 and access it from the other end.

Balmed Out

You go onto the link from boreenmana but come of it from victoria road all of 2 minutes drive away.

ianobrien

OP, another option is Bishopstown/Model Farm Rd. I'm living there at the moment and working in Ringaskiddy. The journey takes 25 to 30 minutes to/from work in traffic.

I can walk into town in about 50 minutes taking my ease. There are two bus services (205 & 208) and Wilton Shopping centre has Tescos and Penneys. Traffic in Bishopstown isn't as bad as Douglas in my opinion and it's only 2 minutes down the N40 from Sarsfield Road Roundabout to Douglas.

the beer revolu

Turner's Cross/Ballyphehane or South Douglas Road are all walking distance to town and easily access the South link road.

butbut

I live in Turners Cross and it takes me twenty minutes to walk to town and better still twenty minutes to drive to the NMCI in Ringaskiddy so unless you are working there or on the Naval base then it should take a minute or two less. I leave just after half 8 most mornings. Luckily driving from Turners Cross to Ringaskiddy you are driving in the opposite direction to most of the traffic!

butbut

Solair wrote: »

You can also access Ringaskiddy via the backroads through the minor roads via Passage West or by going cross-country.
I'm not sure how badly they clog up in the mornings.

On the monings I cycle I go this way its pretty slow moving to be fair and is a godd 6km longer then using the South Ring Road.

Pablo Escobar

Turners Cross is a good suggestion. It's a nice enough area and is generally not as expensive as Douglas. Plus traffic is generally lighter in TC and the access to South Link (N27) is great in both directions. Also, it's only 15/20 mins walk to town.