As a resident of Corbally and as a parent with children who have attended Scoil Ide I am in favour of this proposal. The safety of our school going children is paramount and we have neglected this for too long. The high traffic volumes created by cars dropping off at Scoil Ide needs serious discussion, the amount of cars is detrimental to our childrens health from tail pipe emissions (with Ireland having some of the highest incidences of Asthma in Europe) and the lack of activity caused by transporting children to school by car. We need to give parents and their children a safe option to travel to school. The Corbally Road needs to connect with the surrounding areas in Corbally from Carrig Midh, Westbury, Shannon Banks. Irish Estates, Park Gardens/Roseville and to create a safe route from St Marys Secondary School to St Munchins Secondary School.
As a parent I completelt understand the unwillingness of many other parents to allow their children to cycle on unsafe roads with aggressive and distracted motorists. This Part 8 scheme can do a lot to address the current issues on this road. I would also suggest that the speed limit on Corbally Road and within the city needs to be addressed as well and this area should be deisgnated as a school zone with appropiate traffic calming and monitoring and a sensible speed limit of 30kph.
Consideration is also required to the residents of Corbally Road who had to deal with years of illegal parking by parents on the south side of the Corbally Road. Motorists collecting or dropping children need to park in appropriate locations and to not inconvenience residents. Barriers are needed to prevent any ingress on the shared path by motorists otherwise this will defeat the purpose of the improvements.
We need more infrastructure of this nature in Limerick City and the adjoining suburbs.