Greenway project starts

Works began on the Passage Railway Greenway Improvement Scheme this week.

Site clearance works started on Monday on the section from the N40 near Mahon Point to the Marina. This is so they can be completed in advance of the bird nesting season.

The site clearance work will include the removal of brush and trees.

46 trees will be removed, a limited number of which are already dead or unsafe, City Hall has said. These will be replaced with 65 semi-mature trees and more than 2,000 saplings

The new trees will be native Irish species, as advised by the project’s environmental advisors.

A spokesperson for Cork City Council said: “The Passage Railway Greenway Improvement Scheme is aimed at providing a high quality, attractive transportation and recreational route while creating and supporting an environmental living corridor.”

The greenway will be kept open however it will be necessary to close sections on a rolling basis for the safety of users and workers.

Traffic management plans have been established to facilitate the safe movement of construction traffic. Information and diversion signage are in place for pedestrians and cyclists.

The project will:

• Widen the greenway from the existing three to five meters in width

• Provide new and improved access points

• Provide CCTV facilities and environmentally sensitive public lighting along the full extent of the greenway

• Reinstate the Blackrock Road railway footbridge, utilising the existing historic abutments, access ramps and disused railway platforms

• Repair and clean the existing bridges, historical structures and features along the route

• Undertake soft landscaping works including tree, shrub and wildflower planting with native pollinator friendly species.

• Install bee, bird and bat boxes to improve the greenways biodiversity

• Install water drinking points and other measures.