View Single Post
Unread 15-11-2008, 16:55   #16
Colm Moore
Local Liaison Officer
 
Colm Moore's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,442
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by jpsartre View Post
Not quite sure what you mean by under used institutional land but Moyress is a very large residential area on the edge of the city. I don't see the parallel with Monasterevin. It may be a burden on the system to add another stop there but my concern is with the current lack of capacity on the roads. IE's reluctance to consider a stop in Moyress because short journeys are not lucrative for them simply means the roads will have to take up the slack and that's just not sustainable. Maybe the RPA were right a few years ago when they suggested a Luas for cities like limerick. A very expensive proposition though.
Trams, as such, probably aren't the best solution for Limerick.

------------------------------------------------------------

Compare the area around Ranelagh Luas stop to the areas west of Harold's Cross Green.

Ranelagh http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...21887&t=k&z=16

Harold's Cross http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...21887&t=k&z=16

The density in Ranelagh is pushing 10,000 people per square kilometre (parts of Dublin City centre are twice that). For Harold's Cross it’s about a third of that. That’s despite Ranelagh being mostly two- and three-storey houses (although many were in flats, a lot have been changed back to single occupancy houses). I imagine the percentage of people living in apartments is actually higher in Harold's Cross.

The problem with Harold's Cross's density is there is a large amount of land given over to the cemeteries, hospice, school sports grounds, convents and parks, indeed some land whose use is bordering on agricultural - all perfectly good uses in themselves - but not suited to central locations.

Population densities http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showp...7&postcount=13

You can find the names of the Electoral Divisions here: http://www.electoralareacommittees.ie/

And populations and areas (you need to work out density yourself) here: http://www.cso.ie/census/documents/A...0by%20Area.pdf

------------------------------------------------------------

Moving to Limerick, Jackman Park sports ground is right next to Colbert Station (on the other side you have surface car parking). I don't know how often it gets used, but it’s probably marginal in the land use hierarchy. However, some of the land surrounding the sports field is left fallow and is overgrown - some recently converted to car parking. This is a gross misuse when people are screaming out of homes that are accessible to work, study and leisure opportunities. Go a little further out and you have the waste land that surrounds the former Cork Direct Curve, open grass land and only then do you have housing.

Develop these areas before putting more people in Castletroy, Dooradoyle, Ardnacrusha and Sixmilebridge. And it’s not as if people are losing their local park - much of these areas appear to be overgrown and some used for [http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=ss7tf2g8f8dg&style =b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=27667733&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1]joyriding[/url].

Now that I mention Castletroy to get from Limerick to Castletroy, you have to cross open agricultural land. Castletroy / Ballysimon / Annacotty are built with Castletroy golf course in the middle - that means people need to go around the golf club to get to work. Indeed Annacotty is so far out (7+km) and disconnected from the city that the CSO don't treat is a suburb, but as a separate town.

While the Moyross plan is a step, both Limerick City and County Councils will need to up their game hugely. The biggest enemy of sensible transport in Limerick is Limerick County Council and their policy of sucking every piece of life it can fromt he city.


I think I'll go have a lie down.
__________________

Last edited by Colm Moore : 15-11-2008 at 17:14.
Colm Moore is offline   Reply With Quote