Our Ballincollig Local Action Group are a small and friendly group who are working to make Ballincollig a safe and pleasant town for cycling. Join them and be part of this amazing team as we try to work positively with all stakeholders.
Local concerns
- Maintenance and cleaning of the shared cycle/footpath on the Carrigrohane road. Although this path is a major cycle commuting route, it took pictures in the paper of us sweeping this section to get any action from the council. Vegetation growth into the footpath from Inchigaggin into the city (within the bounds of Cork city council) is a (ahem) perennial problem.
- Increases in speed limits along the N40. No, we’re not joking: at the same time as other towns and cities in Ireland are lowering speeds, the county council raised the speed by 60% from 50 to 80 km/h along a short stretch of road with two blind corners and on a major cycling corridor. Hard to believe, but true! We’re continuing to pursue this matter.
- Drivers parking in cycle lanes is an acute problem around Colaiste Choilm. This is a danger for adult and child cyclists, and it’s no wonder that Coliaste Choilm has so few children cycling. We’ve had some positive interactions with the school principal and hope to pursue the matter further.
- We would like to see a 30 km/h speed limit throughout Ballincollig, and particularly in the commercial centre of the village. As a primarily residential neighbourhood, higher speed limits are not warranted.
Contact us at ballincolligbikecampaign@gmail.com and corkcyclingcampaign@yahoo.ie if you spot a problem to tackle or a success to celebrate!
Cycling in Ballincollig
Ballincollig is a large commuter town about 8 km to the west of Cork city. It has a rich industrial heritage and was once home to one of the largest Gunpowder Mills in Britain and Ireland. As recently as the 1970’s, Ballincollig was a small village on the main road to the market town of Macroom. However, extensive housing development changed Ballincollig into a large satellite town and it is now the largest town in the county with a population of almost 19,000.
Cycling infrastructure in Ballincollig was mostly upgraded 10 years ago. There is a mix of mandatory cycle lanes, mixed use shared street environments, segregated cycle ways and shared cycling/walking paths. Many people cycle for recreational purposes and the numbers of people cycle commuting into Cork is rising. With some larger employers in Ballincollig (VMWare, EMC, etc.), Ballincollig is also a destination for commuting cyclists.
There is potential for much more utility cycling in Ballincollig. Ballincollig has quite good cycle access to Cork city centre, the Western suburbs, and destinations like UCC, CIT, CUH and the IDA Business Park on Model Farm Road. Within Ballincollig, the main retail areas and public buildings (schools, churches, post office, and medical centres) are usually less than 2 km from residential areas.
Ballincollig is also on the route of the proposed ‘Lee to Sea’ greenway. This greenway would not only improve cycling facilities in Ballincollig and to Ballincollig but could also offer significant opportunities for the promotion of tourism in Ballincollig.
