Major blow for Athlone to Galway greenway plan

Six weeks after the opening of the new cycleway bridge in Athlone, plans to extend the route to Galway have been dealt a major setback with the main consultant suspending its work on the project.

RPS was appointed in October 2019 to provide provide engineering, planning, environmental and other services for the Athlone to Galway cycleway.

However, it stopped work at the beginning of this month and is now seeking to terminate its contract with Westmeath County Council because, it says, the project is "no longer financially viable" for the company.

The council said RPS's moves to step away from the project were prompted by the "complexity and scale" of the preferred route for the cycleway, which follows an indirect, 200km, path from Athlone to Galway.

Westmeath County Council is managing the planning and development of the amenity, which has been met with strong opposition from some landowners in East Galway over the years.

The local authority said it still intends to eventually submit a planning application for the cycleway to An Bord Pléanala, but the possible departure of RPS from the project could cause a significant delay to this process.

In an update in recent days, the council said: "Due to the complexity and scale of the 200km preferred route, together with upward market pressures in recent years, RPS have advised Westmeath County Council that the project is no longer financially viable for the company."

It said RPS took this decision, "having regard to the fixed price tender sum for the contract as signed in 2019," and that the company has "sought mutual termination under the contract" with immediate effect.

"To minimise any delay on the project, and in particular the completion of the design and environmental evaluation phase of the scheme, the parties have agreed to now enter into a process to deal with the issues to hand."

The council went on to say that, along with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, it was "exploring various approaches to identify the most appropriate and effective mechanism for progressing and delivering the scheme through the design and environmental evaluation processes".

It’s not known whether the council can now agree new terms with RPS in order for the company to resume its work, or whether it will have to go to tender again for the remaining consultancy services needed to advance the project.

A statement issued by three groups who are opposing the cycleway in county Galway said they believed now was the time to “call a halt” to the whole project, as it was “simply not viable”.

“The method of selecting the longest (route) option with the second highest number of private landowners affected simply boggles the mind,” stated Tricha Donohue on behalf of the Kilcolgan, East Galway, and Coastal Greenway Action Groups.

“Second time around, Roscommon and Galway County Councils, under the control of Westmeath County Council, still can’t manage this project. As pointed out, it was much too complex a route in the first place.”

She argued that the greenway concept ought to be revisited and that there were more appropriate ways to spend the money that would be used for the project.

Ms Donohue said more on-road segregated cycleways, and more rural public transport, would be “viable” environmentally friendly options and would benefit both tourists and local communities.

“Meandering greenways that destroy livelihoods and ecosystems cannot be justified for the odd tourists that may or may not come to Ireland to cycle in the wind and the rain, and who use major polluters, ie. planes, to get here,” she said.

The Athlone to Galway cycleway has run into difficulty before, with the project being ‘paused’ in 2015 after vociferous opposition from East Galway landowners over what they felt was a lack of consultation and the use of compulsory purchase orders to acquire land.

Planning for the project resumed in late 2019, and the preferred route west of Athlone was published in late March this year.

The route takes in Shannonbridge, Portumna, Gort, Kinvara and Oranmore before reaching Galway city.