Cork simply had to have its Lee Tunnel or, at least, its engineers did. Like Chicago, the southern capital suffers from a "second city" syndrome, so there was an imperative to be first in the Republic with a tunnelled road scheme. Due to open this autumn, it will end up costing £104 million.

Cork was also the first Irish city to commission an integrated land use and transportation study, known as LUTS, in 1978. But it is a remarkable fact that little else but the roads recommended in this blueprint have actually been implemented. As usual, public transport is the poor relation.

Had the authorities in Cork opted for a bridge, or even a barrage - proposed by City Architect Neil Hegarty to guard against periodic flooding of the city centre - the cost of this downstream crossing of the River Lee, between Dunkettle and Mahon, would have been much cheaper.

The millions of pounds saved could have been spent on such projects as re-opening the railway line between Cork and Youghal, serving Midleton in the process, as well as a network of quality bus corridors, cycleways and park-and-ride facilities. With the tunnel, only motorists will benefit.