Limerick transport and travel projects

Bit of pie in the sky stuff here from me but, as much as greenways are great amenities and cycle lanes in urban areas are only be a good thing, if Limerick is to compete and start to draw attention away from Dublin and Cork it needs to sell itself better. And it has so much already in place to do that. Some rail lines should be brought back into use rather than be turned into greenways. But Limerick City needs to be looked at as a bigger entity than jus the city. Clare plays a big role here.

As said above, there are options for transport the Greens can promote and get people on board such as a better rail link to and from the city.

If you look at the existing, if some unused, rail infrastructure around the city and its hinterland, there is minimal investment needed compared to some other large scale options. And yes, as said above again, some of the areas are not big populations but they could grow into really nice, medium sized commuter towns in the future rather than forcing everyone to live in Limerick suburbs. Limerick could be a better option than it is and compete closer to Cork than what its doing right now and it is now we need to look into the future for what we want the city to have and not in another 10 to 15 years when traffic is impossible, cars are too expensive to run, electricity costs are through the roof and mass transport is something every city needs.

If you look at the populations from 2016, Limerick city has about 100k. But if you took a Greater Limerick City area its about 160K. If you take Limericks hinterland, as I would define it, towns approx. 30 mins drive from the city this grows to about 250K. Its a large area but undeniably it does draw people from this zone to the city and it is a substantial population. I would have it from Shannon up to Ennis, across to Sixmilebridge, over to Westbury, Parteen, Killaloe, Nenagh, down to Newport, Doon, Tipperary Town, Hospital, Bruff, Croom, Rathkeale, Adare and up to Foynes and Askeaton. Nenagh, Ennis and Tipp Town at the very edges of this hinterland and large areas in their own rights but also close enough to Limerick to feel its influence and linked by road and rail.

You have motorway access from Ennis in the North, Nenagh in the East, and soon from Foynes, Rathkeale, Adare in the West.

What is really interesting is the rail options. There is a rail line direct from Ennis to Limerick, passing Sixmilebridge, Cratloe, Moyross, Corbally, Literally runs directly beside Parkway Shopping Centre and Childers Retail Park, Garryowen and into Colbert Station.

Then from Tipp Town, Limerick Junction, Oola, Pallas, Boher (where Hospital, Doon, Tipp traffic merges), Directly past City East Shopping, Delta Shopping, Ballysimon Industrial area, Galvone Industrial Park, Linking with the Ennis line into Colbert. The Nenagh line passes close to Ballina/Killaloe at Birdhill, through Castleconnell, Annacotty Business Park and links with the Tipp line a little further out.

But most interesting is the old line from Foynes, past Askeaton, just north of Rathkeale, skirts the edge of Adare, past Patrickswell, then directly past Raheen Industrial Park, there is a spur that is beside the Crescent Shopping Centre (it may as well be in the carpark), into Roxboro and into Colbert. The Crescent spur goes on the norther edge of Dooradoyle and basically already goes to Mungret by the cement factory.

Limerick basically has a ready built mass transport system beside 4 large industrial areas, passing 15 rural population areas, maybe Munsters largest shopping centre and beside huge Limerick Urban populations such as Dooradoyle, Mungret, Moyross, Corbally, Rhebogue, Garryowen, if they wanted it. Also all it needs is about 2km of new line to link into UL from between Corbally and Parkway. If Clare CoCo had any cop-on; 12km of new line to link into Shannon Town, the industrial Freezone and into the Airport to the line by Sixmilebridge. Everything else exists bar some simple stations and cheap and cheerful simple trains to run it.

The fact that Shannon airport, town and Freezone, the 3rd biggest Airport in the country, a town of over 10,000 with a huge industrial zone situated between the 3rd, 4th and 12th largest urban areas in the country only needs a short rail line to link it basically the entire country including Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and it hasnt been done is ridiculous. Limerick City is basically a 2 county city and joined up thinking is needed.