Poll: Do you think the planned €850m Cork-Limerick motorway is a good idea?
Leo Varadkar says it ‘makes sense’ – but others argue it will hinder growth in second-tier cities.
THE GOVERNMENT WILL soon publish its much-discussed National Planning Framework, a blueprint for what Ireland should be like in 20 years time.
A key part of the plan is to encourage growth in rural towns and cities like Galway, Cork and Limerick.
All will be revealed on Friday, although a number of details have already been made public such as a plan to spend €850 million on a motorway between Cork and Limerick.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told RTÉ’s This Week programme that the road connection “makes sense”.
“We now want to connect Limerick and Cork via the N20 so we can connect Cork Limerick and Galway by motorway and therefore enable them and empower them to grow faster than Dublin in the 10, 15 years ahead,” he said on Sunday.
However, one of the researchers who worked on the National Planning Framework has voiced concerns over the proposed Cork-Limerick motorway, arguing that it will not deliver much-needed growth in those ‘second-tier’ cities but instead lead to more sprawl.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, DCU professor Edgar Morgenroth said: “Another motorway is not actually what’s needed. What we really need is urban public transport.”
With that in mind we’re asking Fora readers this week, Do you think the planned €850 million Cork-Limerick motorway is a good idea?
