'Fresh start' for Athlone to Galway Greenway after five-year delay

Council planners are hoping to make a "fresh start" on the long-delayed Athlone to Galway Greenway project, with the public set to be consulted about it in the coming days.

The public consultations will begin on Monday next, August 10, with an event in Athlone's Shamrock Lodge Hotel between 11am and 8pm.

The development, which would complete the Dublin to Galway Greenway, was "paused" in 2015 after strong objections were voiced by farmers and other landowners who would have been impacted, particularly in East Galway.

Within the last year, a dedicated office for the project was established on Society Street in Ballinasloe.

Planners are hoping to create a "world class trail from Galway to Athlone" but they said they were starting again with a "clean slate" and that no "route corridor" for the Greenway has been decided as of yet.

"It will be scenic, sustainable, be a strategic link, with lots to see and do, be substantially segregated from motor traffic and welcome a wide variety of users.

"It will be developed in co-operation with local communities and offer real benefits to them," said the project team, which involves Westmeath, Roscommon and Galway county councils.

Public consultation events will be held each day next week, starting in Athlone on Monday. On Tuesday, there will be a consultation event in the Shearwater Hotel, Ballinasloe, between 11am and 8pm, while similar events will be held in the subsequent days in Athenry, Loughrea and Oranmore.

All of the material on display at the public consultation events will also be made available to view in a 'virtual consultation room' on the website for the project, which is at: www.galwaytoathlonecycleway.com

Ciaran Cannon, the Fine Gael TD for Galway East, said the project was "critically important" and that consultation with landowners was key.

"This is a critically important piece of national infrastructure that will transform so many communities across East Galway. It is vital that we get it right from the very beginning," he said.

"The last attempt at designing a route failed abysmally and the project had to be abandoned. This time around we need to get it right, we need to start with a completely blank canvas and we need to bring landowners and other stakeholders into the heart of the design process."

Earlier this summer, site investigation work took place on the River Shannon in the centre of Athlone to prepare for the development of the new cycle bridge planned on the river as part of the Dublin to Galway Greenway route.

It's anticipated that a contractor to build the new bridge in Athlone will be appointed at some stage next year.