M20 - Cork to Limerick [preferred route chosen; in design - phase 3]

Quick shout-out though to the new-build bits in the Cork area which are seeing very heavy use. And it's really only just beginning, in terms of the roll-outs of approved schemes.

Maybe labouring the point, but the walking/cycling part of the project is also really really low cost. Likely lower cost than a couple of the "hubs". Tiny compared to the wider project. Roads are really expensive.

I understand the idea that adding the walking/cycling modes into the corridor demands looks like some kind of "qu'ils mangent de la brioche" sop, but it's so easy, there's no reason NOT do it! Rail is obviously a whole different story, but it's the "cycling on the motorway" clickbait headlines that seem to have caught people's attention and rubbed people up badly.

Just saying cycling sets a certain group off.

They will always say "I have nothing against cycle lanes but" and then when one is being built with no impact on car users they still cry.

Libel laws? ROFL.

How can someone libel an anonymous account on the internet..

I often cycle on the old road to Ennis which is very close to the M18. The relative lack of scenery and the noise make it not as nice as the more scenic routes from Limerick but it's also the difference between me making it there and not.

I often cycle back in the dual carriageway from Bunratty too for the same reasons of good surface, more even gradient and more direct route.

Yep, the roads themselves aren't the destination, basically.

Is this a why did the chicken cross the road type question?

HHow Else does one get around, hardly by scenic routes only.

I am talking about your account.

Check out the maps in the dropbox link on the project website. There's a lot of detail there. Definitely not a token gesture, but lots of smaller details can be improved. They give the images of the typical cross-sections on the project website and the map shows what cross sections apply where. Looks like green barrier physical segregation almost throughout, sometimes with wide and vertical segregation (against M8) and sometimes with narrow horizontal segregation (against secondary road). Looks pretty good with just some junctions to possibly be improved, from what I can see.

Libel over a Boards.ie comment 😂😂😂 Come on now buddy

I think the proposals as currently are are fairly disappointing overall.

The "transport hubs" seem to be just car parks with no detail on what level of bus services will serve them. Given the rail line runs parallel to the road for much of it, there seems to be no attempt to connect with it. There will be regular train services passing (CART) there but very few stations. I know people will say that that is for IE but this project seems happy enough to hatch some areas with no consideration for accessing potential train station locations.

Rathduff/Grenagh seems a big missed opportunity to provide a new station with an existing community and potential for population growth around it. A station could be added north of the existing bridge by the school. A new road and bridge north of that again would open up the area for development. It would be far cheaper and likely more successful than pipe-dreams like Monard.

Buttevant is another place where they have just hatched an area as a "transport hub" but hard to see how it would be of any use. There is the potential for a train station on the other side of the town where a better transport hub could be created. Feed it with a Local Link bus between Doneraile and Liscarroll or something like that. A station here would be a good stop for a direct Cork/Limerick service.

I also don't think the Charleville junction will adequately serve the town. A lot of traffic will still pass through the Main Street going to/from the motorway. Bruree does not justify a junction, that junction should be 5km further south and still be far enough from the junction south of the town. I still don't see the logic for going west of Charleville, the eastern side would allow for the creation of a transport hub at the train station. As they are putting the motorway west of the town, a distributor road is needed from the Kilmallock Road to the Primary Care Centre.

The active travel route around Charleville is also disappointing, almost 20km along the motorway with no towns/villages along the way. It wont be useful for local journeys. Options are limited unfortunately.

I've never heard them used in an interchangeable way in Ireland either in public or the media.