Limerick improvement projects

Vanquished

pigtown wrote: »

The IDA want to widen Plassey Park Road from the Vistakon roundabout as far as Milford, with new cycle lanes, a left turning lane onto the roundabout and a new entrance to a presumably new factory across from Vistacon

They already have permission for a 3 storey office building just inside the entrance to the park.

kiss_my_face

Anyone know the story with City East Plaza and the 7 story ( I think its 7 anyway) building? From what I can see construction on that building finished way back last summer. Yet I don't see any other companies having moved in there. I don't even know if it is any bit furnished in there but from what I can see they have started on the new buildings.

mdmix

kiss_my_face wrote: »

Anyone know the story with City East Plaza and the 7 story ( I think its 7 anyway) building? From what I can see construction on that building finished way back last summer. Yet I don't see any other companies having moved in there. I don't even know if it is any bit furnished in there but from what I can see they have started on the new buildings.

Just passed there now, don't see any sign of the work on the new buildings..

James Bond Junior

mdmix wrote: »

Just passed there now, don't see any sign of the work on the new buildings..

Did you look up?

mdmix

James Bond Junior wrote: »

Did you look up?

Yes I did, the cranes were static, as they have been for the last few months. Did you see any works going on the last few days?

kiss_my_face

mdmix wrote: »

Just passed there now, don't see any sign of the work on the new buildings..

Thought I saw them doing some work on the ground when I was in there (Shop in the Northern Trust building) but yeah I could be wrong. There still seems to be a good few labourers and equipment around there anyway so maybe they are starting soon?

I'm more curious to know when that 7 story is being filled up, any idea? I see its up on Daft or one of those sites and for office space which is available to move into "immediately" so maybe theres just a lot of dotting i's and crossing t's, Im not sure.

dominatinMC

kiss_my_face wrote: »

Thought I saw them doing some work on the ground when I was in there (Shop in the Northern Trust building) but yeah I could be wrong. There still seems to be a good few labourers and equipment around there anyway so maybe they are starting soon?

I'm more curious to know when that 7 story is being filled up, any idea? I see its up on Daft or one of those sites and for office space which is available to move into "immediately" so maybe theres just a lot of dotting i's and crossing t's, Im not sure.

It all seems very speculative. I have a friend who works in Northern Trust who was saying that they are moving into the new building, but he is unsure of that now. If it is up on Daft, I would say that NT moving in is unlikely. The Hanging Gardens (Gardens International now?) development also has to be a factor. I would suspect that the Council, Chamber of Commerce, etc, are pushing hard for companies to move in there, rather than industrial parks outside the city.

Vanquished

No works of any significance have taken place on the sites of the new buildings. They haven't even broke ground. The developers claimed that they had an agreement in place with another financial services company to take one of the proposed buildings. I know that Credit Suisse looked at the hanging gardens before supposedly plumping for the outskirts of town. I really hope that they have reconsidered. It would be a great boost to the city centre.

Northern Trust have agreed to take the bottom 3 floors of the recently completed building at city east plaza.

mdmix

City East was a traffic blackspot until they put in the slip road. Once the 7 storey building is occupied it will likely return city East to a traffic blackspot, not to mind what the new buildings and proposed school further down the road will do. Limerick badly needs a transport strategy.

Shn99

The International Gardens today

Shn99

What’s the latest on the Parkway Valley site?

dominatinMC

Shn99 wrote: »

What’s the latest on the Parkway Valley site?

What an eyesore that is! Is there supposed to be something happening there?

Shn99

dominatinMC wrote: »

What an eyesore that is! Is there supposed to be something happening there?

It’s being put on the derelict site register sometime soon if nobody comes forward with a plan

Cityslicker1

mdmix wrote: »

City East was a traffic blackspot until they put in the slip road. Once the 7 storey building is occupied it will likely return city East to a traffic blackspot, not to mind what the new buildings and proposed school further down the road will do. Limerick badly needs a transport strategy.

Why don't they add a lane or two and widen the road - Limerick seems to be a fan on one lane roads on all approaches to the city - there should be two lanes on both sides from the Tipperary road roundabout at Childers rd to the motorway.

The same applies to Childers road at the retail park from the Tipperary road roundabout to the Parkway roundabout and also the Dublin road at Finegans pub - There's loads of space to add extra lanes to free up the traffic but never seems to happen
The Condell road could easily add an extra lane on both sides as well to access the city on the West side

Cookiemunster

Cityslicker1 wrote: »

Why don't they add a lane or two and widen the road - Limerick seems to be a fan on one lane roads on all approaches to the city - there should be two lanes on both sides from the Tipperary road roundabout at Childers rd to the motorway.

There isn't room. There are businesses fronting onto the road on both sides all the way from Childers Rd to EZ living. And two lanes inbound wouldn't make much difference when you're just arriving at the already busy Childers Rd.

Cityslicker1 wrote: »

The same applies to Childers road at the retail park from the Tipperary road roundabout to the Parkway roundabout and also the Dublin road at Finegans pub - There's loads of space to add extra lanes to free up the traffic but never seems to happen

Extra lanes are not going to solve the traffic issues on that section of the Childers Rd. The Parkway roundabout is over capacity and the entrance to the retain park will still be a disaster with traffic still queuing down to the roundabout creating gridlock.

Cityslicker1 wrote: »

The Condell road could easily add an extra lane on both sides as well to access the city on the West side

There is no need for extra lanes on the Condell Rd. Any problems here are caused by traffic arriving at the Shannon bridge roundabout. Again something that extra lanes won't solve.

panda100

Cityslicker1 wrote: »

The Condell road could easily add an extra lane on both sides as well to access the city on the West side

The Condell Road goes through the middle of a beautiful nature reserve that not many cities can boast they have. The pavements on either side are well used by walkers and runners at all times throughout the day and night. The cycles lanes that are there are also actively used by many cycling commuters, group and solo cyclists. The last thing this road needs are extra lanes of car traffic.

marno21

The only real benefit for extra lanes would be an extra lane outbound on whichever arterial route. An inbound extra lane is a waste of time because in all cases the distance between the N18/M7 and the first bottleneck going towards town is only a km or two. An extra lane inbound on the Tipp Road for example would be useless as the road from the Tipp Road roundabout on the Childers Road inbound can't be widened.

The Condell Road is the only arterial route in Limerick with no accesses, so diverting as much traffic onto it as possible and removing traffic from residential roads such as the Ennis Road would be beneficial. Remember that the Condell Road was built specifically for motor traffic as a bypass for the Ennis Road.

Of course the main reason for the volume of traffic on the roads around the Ennis Road is the tunnel toll. If the tunnel were toll free it would free up a lot of those roads

iguana

Cookiemunster wrote: »

The Parkway roundabout is over capacity and the entrance to the retain park will still be a disaster with traffic still queuing down to the roundabout creating gridlock.

The Parkway roundabout is very, very badly designed. It's positioned in such a way that it favours the Dublin Rd significantly, which is ridiculous when Childers Rd is also a major city route. It also has yellow boxes painted in the wrong place so when traffic is held up on the Dublin Rd in the direction of town, the traffic on the roundabout blocks traffic coming off the righthand lane at the Parkway and even Childer's Rd, when if they were correctly positioned that traffic could still be freeflowing. And lastly at very busy times, traffic on the roundabout in the direction of town, is actually held up by the traffic lights at the end of St Patrick's Rd. Meaning that traffic in the Parkway and on Childers Rd that wants to take any of the other exits can't move.

The simplest thing that would improve that junction is for the boxes to be burnt off and repainted in the correct positions. It wouldn't fix the entire problem but it would help a little. And ideally, the roundabout should be repositioned in a way that no longer disfavours Childer's Rd. I know the actual plan is to replace the Roundabout with lights but lights in Limerick are often very badly timed and cause more problems than properly designed and managed roundabouts.

Glenomra

Cityslicker1 wrote: »

Why don't they add a lane or two and widen the road - Limerick seems to be a fan on one lane roads on all approaches to the city - there should be two lanes on both sides from the Tipperary road roundabout at Childers rd to the motorway.

The same applies to Childers road at the retail park from the Tipperary road roundabout to the Parkway roundabout and also the Dublin road at Finegans pub - There's loads of space to add extra lanes to free up the traffic but never seems to happen
The Condell road could easily add an extra lane on both sides as well to access the city on the West side

The problem with that contribution is the fact that it makes sense, a completely logical improvement, which the city planners will not implement. If they did they would find reduced need for their nonsensical and unimplementable proposal to build a Distributor Road across a fragile and enormous floodplain of the River Shannon. Rather, they continue to add unnecessary traffic lights to slow traffic down even further.

zulutango

If there's going to be any lanes added to any roads, they should be cycle or bus lanes. Providing lanes for cars only creates more problems.

Insect Overlord

Reliable as clockwork...

damowill

Deedsie wrote: »

The last thing we need is more congested car lanes. Cycle lanes, bus lanes and improved pedestrian infrastructure is badly badly needed.

if we had more cycle lanes then more people would cycle to work. we need to create safe infrastructure for cyclists.

likewise, if we had more bus lanes then buses may actually be punctual and therefore again more people would take that form of transport.

unfortunately, both arent very easy to implement with the road layouts that we currently have.

tweek84

Deedsie wrote: »

Take some space back from the cars if required. Too many cars have made Limerick a horrible place. Pedestrians, cyclists and bus users should be given the majority of space.

I get the feeling you live in the city, alot and i mean alot of the traffic in the city or traffic entering the city is from the countryside. For me cycling in to the city would take me over 50 mins, cycling to work would take 40 mins and i am not talking about handy cycle would i do either? No Have i? Yes Would cycle lanes decrease my cycle time? No, showering facilities would be more of a benefit to me for the cycle LOL.

Do i use public transport to get from where i live in to town? No because it is practically non existent

Could i use either of those methods of transport to do my shopping or take a trip in to town with my kids? No because it would not make logical sense

Slightly off topic but one of the most hair brained things is the coca cola bikes the last stop for those bikes on the way out o'connell ave to the crescent is scoil carmel/the mount i am sure they would drum up a bit more business for themselves if they had a stop at the crescent and at the raheen industrial estate.

Vanquished

Deedsie wrote: »

Also I dont think anyone lives in Limerick City centre unfortunately :-) That is a major part of our traffic problems.

Some of us do. The city centre is chronically underpopulated though. The councils solution to this is to promote more greenfield housing in Mungret and Coonagh. Areas with pretty much zero public transport services.

marno21

Deedsie wrote: »

Thats the point I was trying to make. I thought the smiley face would highlight that. Not enough people live in the city centre or close to where they actually work.

How many people from Nenagh drive into Limerick every day for work? When was the last time the Nenagh to Limerick section of the train line received any funding to improve the service. Train is less than useless to commuters.

The lack of a properly timed evening service is an issue alright.

How many people live near the train station in Nenagh and would be willing to drive into Nenagh to get the train into Limerick instead of hopping onto the M7? How many people would like an hour long train journey into Limerick from Nenagh that's 35km by road?

An awful lot of people working in Raheen/Castletroy/Northern Trust area etc will never take the train as it's a 20 minute motorway commute.

Vanquished

Deedsie wrote: »

Thats the point I was trying to make. I thought the smiley face would highlight that. Not enough people live in the city centre or close to where they actually work.

I'm well aware of the situation. I was emphasising how the council continues to undermine the city centre.

zulutango

tweek84 wrote: »

I get the feeling you live in the city, alot and i mean alot of the traffic in the city or traffic entering the city is from the countryside. For me cycling in to the city would take me over 50 mins, cycling to work would take 40 mins and i am not talking about handy cycle would i do either? No Have i? Yes Would cycle lanes decrease my cycle time? No, showering facilities would be more of a benefit to me for the cycle LOL.

Is your job in the city centre? If yes, would you consider living closer to where you work?

One of the big problems in Limerick, and pretty much everywhere in Ireland, is that in the last 50 years we've made it feasible to not live in the cities and towns. And this has massively undermined them. If we build bike and bus infrastructure while at the same time making it less easy for private motorists to access our urban areas, then over time we'll get strong towns and cities because people will choose to live in them.

tweek84

zulutango wrote: »

Is your job in the city centre? If yes, would you consider living closer to where you work?

One of the big problems in Limerick, and pretty much everywhere in Ireland, is that in the last 50 years we've made it feasible to not live in the cities and towns. And this has massively undermined them. If we build bike and bus infrastructure while at the same time making it less easy for private motorists to access our urban areas, then over time we'll get strong towns and cities because people will choose to live in them.

Fortunately not i work in Raheen industrial estate, i only live 20 mins away via car using back roads it would take longer if i used the main roads with the traffic, I definitely would not consider moving closer to town i worked my ass off to buy a nice house in the country but yet not too far from town. I have lived in Cork city, Galway city, Raheen, Monaleen so its not a case that i have lived in the one spot all my life but i did grow up in the area i now live, i know a lot of people from my area would prefer to live there rather than move in to town.
Nothing against living in town or a housing estate but it is not for everyone, it just does nothing for me.

Brennans Row

Cookiemunster wrote: »

I spotted this on the councils planning website. I assume its that building.

Development Description: completion of the works comprising of a mixed development as follows: (a) language school and seven retail shop units on ground floor; (b) five duplex 4 bedroom apartments and three duplex 6 bedroom apartment on first and second floors; (c0 basement with 24 private car spaces and (d) new connections to the mains public water and sewer

Development Address: Ellen Street/Carr Street/Punch's Row,, Limerick.

Manager of Limerick's Milk Market welcomes €3m plans (Limerick Leader)

Anything that finishes off that eye-sore the better.

Well nearly anything, Carr Street will be mainly a wall of grey cladding overlooking the market.

Arrival

That whole building should be knocked and replaced with a decent high rise apartment building to bring more density to that area as it is ideally located in the centre.

They're just making a balls of this city. The Opera centre is going to be done badly as well, I guarantee it. The Opera centre should contain a lot of residential units as well as the office space as again it is very ideally located in the centre for people working in the city centre - I could walk to work in less than five minutes from there and so could many of my friends and this would remove multiple cars commuting into the centre each day, reducing traffic because currently we all commute which we hate. There are probably thousands of people -- young people at least -- that would happily live in the centre but don't currently do so due to lack of a liveable standard of apartments for a fair rental price. It's highly likely that many of these are instead driving their own car in and out of the centre each day or using the bus which means we have unnecessary traffic that could be avoided if we just had more accommodation available.

If the buildings in the Opera centre aren't high rise then it's a waste of extremely valuable land area within the city centre. Those buildings will be there for 50+ years and so we really need to be thinking big for far down the line and how we can develop Limerick's centre. We can make the same stupid mistakes Dublin and Cork have, building low and small buildings in order to preserve the skyline like simpletons which will ultimately result in detrimental sprawl and an underpopulated centre with no atmosphere and life, or we can go all out in maximising the room we have available in the centre for a growing population by building up as high as we possibly can because housing human beings is a lot more important than a clear skyline that very few people even bother to try and observe in city centres. Want a nice view of a clear skyline and horizon? Head twenty minutes out the road in basically any direction and you'll get it, there's plenty of lovely areas in Limerick county to enjoy things like that, but a city isn't one of them.

To be honest, all of this seems so basic to understand and explain that I believe it's all being done the way it is on purpose to create a bit of a shortage in order to drive prices up. It sickens me to consider that the greed people display nowadays makes this a genuine possibility. The sad thing is, if people prioritised the interests of the city and citizens as a whole rather than their own interests, we would all benefit more in the long term.

We have a fuking beautiful castle on the side of a river for goodness sake, Limerick should be developed into the most touristic, attractive city in the country. We're currently too small minded, too lacking in imagination and innovation.