N25 - Midleton to Youghal [planning and design to commence 2023]

I actually agree with that, and I should have been less terse. “No”, a flyover junction is not possible here if one wants Lakeview to be a full-movement junction, but yes, a flyover alone would work. (Bad news for that house just by the roundabout, though)

I think a 2+2 will fit without much extra land-take. As I said in post #259, (https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123699061/#Comment_123699061), if Lakeview were retained as a junction with N25, then the only possible access it could have with N25 would be the Cork side. (Which is fair enough, as that’s where the majority of traffic comes and goes from).

I think keeping Lakeview as a partial interchange is needed because N25 is the only crossing of the Owenacurra river south of Midleton, and the other crossings are at the northern end of the town: if you blocked Lakeview, you’d create higher volumes through Midleton.

Re, your question about CPOs, there’s a block of three houses that comprise Lakeview Terrace, and they look like they could be listed structures (they’re very Georgian in proportions).

There’s also a quite expensive house built just south of the road, which should never, ever have been granted planning so close to a major national road, but this is Cork, I suppose… (I’m not suggesting any impropriety here, just the general habit of Cork County Council planners completely ignoring their own rules when granting planning)

I would say they're even conflicting propositions. We don't really WANT to encourage people doing daily commuting from Youghal or Whitegate to Cork. People are mostly doing these unsustainable commutes out of necessity.

We'd do better to facilitate the few who must do that commute by providing options for those who would happily either live closer to the city or work closer to home. Youghal is pretty much a black spot for employment (and for investment) and that needs to be sorted.

We've got a situation where towns like Cloyne, Castlemartyr, Killeagh, Ballycotton etc (even Ladysbridge) are becoming dormitory towns due to housing issues closer to the city. People leave these places in the morning, return in the evening, and spend time stuck at Lakeview (or Harper's Island!) in between. I'm sure everyone welcomes the new arrivals but it'd be better for everyone if these were places where people lived and conducted daily life.

Fixing Midleton via a distributor would take pressure off Lakeview both directly and indirectly. I'd say it's equal priority (or higher) for me than Castlemartyr and Killeagh bypasses. Next highest priority for me would be Lakeview itself. And then the next priority would be the two bypasses mentioned (or a full N25 scheme to Youghal).

And obviously off-forum (this is roads!) we'd also ideally improve sustainable transport, healthcare, education, employment etc options for all those towns and villages. Getting a few more vehicles through to Lakeview isn't going to be enough, and it looks like there isn't enough space for a flyover. I also explored the idea of a tunnel here a few pages back, but again space is the big issue.

Same thing as Oatencake: there's stuff built all around the junction. I don't think we really want N road junctions in these locations any more.

@niloc1951 please don't post AI "opinions"... the thing is not an authority, and the answers you get from it depend more on how you word your question than the actual facts.

But it’s not an opinion; It’s a semi-randomised response generated by a machine to be a reasonable match for the prompt you gave it. Ask it to argue against the topic, and you’ll get the same plausible-sounding slop, but biased in a different direction.

The worst thing is that it’s empty waffle. Every single point in that response is bland, and something that everyone reading this thread already knows. We all know what an overpass does, and why you’d use one. Overpasses in general are not an interesting topic of discussion. The only interesting question about overpasses in this thread is how you’d fit one in at this location, and what compromises would need to be made, if any.

You’re a regular poster here, and you’ve got plenty to say, and I’m happy to discuss it. But padding your posts out with guff from a machine is just going to get you ignored.