New Athlone greenway section to open by end of month

The opening of the next section of the greenway in Athlone is slightly behind schedule, but it's still expected that cyclists and pedestrians will be using it before the end of this month.

The 1.1km greenway stretch from the White Gates (Ballymahon Road) to Athlone Marina is being developed by local company PD Contractors.

Work on it resumed in March, after a delay due to the public health restrictions. At that stage it was hoped that it would be completed by the August Bank Holiday, but the expected opening date has now been pushed back to Friday, August 27.

On Thursday last, Michael Kelly, Senior Executive Engineer with Westmeath County Council, said the addition of some extra work in connection with the project had slowed progress somewhat.

"Athlone Tidy Towns wanted to see the footpath in front of Abbey graveyard upgraded, so we added that into the contract," he explained.

"That was a big enough job, because they had to take out the whole existing footpath and it was quite sensitive because of the archaeology with it."

He said the new greenway section would conclude at the top of Marina lane.

“There’s a small area there at the back of the Radisson hotel and we’re re-paving it, and putting in new information boards, seats, and planters, because that will be the end point until the bridge (over the Shannon) opens.”

This greenway stretch will make use of the new underpass at Montree, beneath the Dublin to Galway railway line, which was constructed in Easter 2019 at a cost of approximately €4 million.

Discussing the next stages of the greenway development as a whole, Mr Kelly said a contractor would soon be appointed to build the new pedestrian and cycle bridge over the river.

“That’s quite close. We hope to have the contract awarded next month, and a contractor on site at the beginning of October,” he said.

“We would hope to have the bridge opened by the summer, if not the Easter, of 2023. It will take somewhere around 16 to 19 months (to construct), but we’re still finalising that.”

Work is also ongoing to select a preferred route for the cycleway between Athlone and Galway, with seven project liaison officers currently engaged in talks with various landowners.

“The project liaison officers are out talking to landowners to see if we can connect publicly-owned lands with privately-owned lands by voluntary land acquisition agreements,” Mr Kelly told the Westmeath Independent this week.

“That exercise will go on for another two months, and then we’d hope to announce an emerging preferred route probably in October.”

Five potential route corridors are under consideration for the Athlone to Galway section, and the project team said it would not identify a preferred corridor until those involved had been widely consulted.

A five-week consultation period on the various route options took place earlier this year and attracted a huge response with over 10,000 submissions from individuals and groups.

In several communities, including Shannonbridge and Ballinasloe, campaigns were organised to call for the greenway route to include their locality.