As Cork City grows and expands in the coming years, a lot of change is going to become necessary. One area that will touch all our lives is the future of public transportation. Increases in the amount of people in Cork City will put further strain on a system of public transport that is barely able to handle current capacities. In this document, I am proposing the construction of a two-line light rail system, similar to Dublin’s Luas, as a solution. The creation of a light rail transportation network can help link the main city area with the growing amount of people in the suburban areas in an environmentally conscious and efficient fashion.
While recent developments to transportation are welcome, they are not going to be enough to keep up with expectations of growth – it is expected that over half a million people will live in the expanded Cork City by 2050. Such transportation services will likely be strained to a greater degree in the near future, and will only grow more over time.
In 2050, 500,000 people will live in Cork City
Luckily, Cork can learn from similar events in both Ireland and abroad – when Dublin was faced with a similar strains, the creation of the Luas helped to ease congestion and to mitigate the effects of population growth on transport networks. The Luas has been a certain success – ridership has increased year upon year, and further expansions are being proposed. The efforts of Dublin can help to provide the blueprint for the processes and procedures of a similar system in Cork. The proposed system in Cork can benefit from the knowledge of a variety of difficulties, successes, and challenges that have graced the Luas in its fifteen year history.
Through tactical city planning, a Luas-style light rail system can help ensure Cork City goes steaming ahead through the coming decade.
My proposal for light rail in Cork City is found in the 80-page proposal which is found underneath. Two routes, one from Ballincollig to Mahon through the city centre, and a second from the Airport to Hollyhill and Blackrock. This ensures the main corridors of Cork City are linked, while providing connections with other forms of transportation and providing scope for future expansion. Click beneath to view the full proposal document.
Proposal for Light Rail in Cork City (click to view proposal)
Zoom in on the map below to see how these routes will look overlaid on a map of Cork City.