Dungarvan Greenway

mcgratheoin

http://www.waterfordcoco.ie/en/community/cycleandpedestriangreenway/

Proposal to turn the old Waterford - Dungarvan Railway Line into a cycle and pedestrian route is open for submissions until March 14th.

Mugser

Great idea. There was a group collecting signatures at the sign on for the Sean Kelly tour of Waterford last August. Seems to be gathering some steam. Hopefully it will go ahead.

JMcL

Super initiative. The small section they have at the Dungarvan end is lovely for family spins. Seeing what a success the one on Mayo is would give great hope

Official will seems to be there (cash might be another matter), but there's a head of steam in the campaign to go by the website: http://www.deisegreenway.com/index.php

deisegreenway

Hi all,

Now that we're finally on Boards, we can update ye on progress.

Two sections were funded in 2014, Waterford to Kilmeaden (around 10km) and the extension of the existing Dungarvan section as far as Durrow Crossing (which brings this to around 10km). The latter includes the Ballyvoile Tunnel and Viaduct.

Various bits and pieces are now underway, including clearance and investigative works on the 3 N25 crossings (two underpasses and a long footbridge) as well as staging works on the Waterford City end.

The council stated in December that it expects the two new sections to open in June and we feel it's important to continue drumming up support and pressure to ensure this deadline doesn't slip.

Our Facebook page (which I cant yet link to) always carries the latest news.

blobbie

FB link https://www.facebook.com/deise.greenway?fref=ts

JMcL

I took a spin around the Bilberry end the other day, and there's a good amount of clearance done. I assume the track starts/finishes at that dogleg bridge out beyond the old iron works, and then it's just follow the road down to Rice bridge? Anyway, here's to having the two ends up and running in time for summer!

deisegreenway

JMcL wrote: »

I took a spin around the Bilberry end the other day, and there's a good amount of clearance done. I assume the track starts/finishes at that dogleg bridge out beyond the old iron works, and then it's just follow the road down to Rice bridge? Anyway, here's to having the two ends up and running in time for summer!

Just how the greenway will link to the heart of the city remains to be seen. The original plan was to run it right next to the river as part of the ironworks site's redevelopment that was to take place in that area. With that redevelopment now shelved, we're at a loss as to what Plan B is.

What we do know is that from that dogleg bridge in Bilberry out as far as Kilmeaden (alongside the tourist train) is scheduled to be done by June! Bilberry will have a dedicated carpark, train platform, coach parking and bike racks.

smalltalk

Hi Deisegreenway,What kind of surface will be on the route?

deisegreenway

smalltalk wrote: »

Hi Deisegreenway,What kind of surface will be on the route?

Hi smalltalk, it'll be tarmac from end to end. To their credit, the council realised very early that this type of surface is a major factor in having the route considered "world class" and accessible to absolutely everyone.

albert kidd

deisegreenway wrote: »

Hi smalltalk, it'll be tarmac from end to end. To their credit, the council realised very early that this type of surface is a major factor in having the route considered "world class" and accessible to absolutely everyone.

superb it will be all tarmac.

bizguy

albert kidd wrote: »

superb it will be all tarmac.

Cant wait for this

kayaksurfbum

I wonder what the chances are of getting on the track with an MTB before the tarmac goes down!!!

deisegreenway

kayaksurfbum wrote: »

I wonder what the chances are of getting on the track with an MTB before the tarmac goes down!!!

As it stands today, leaving from the Waterford City side, you might get a MTB on it for the first 4km. After that, it depends on how good you are on gravel!

With the recent clearance work at Kilmacthomas, you'd get maybe 2km out there.

As far as we're aware, all other sections are either completely impassable or up-to-the-knees swamp due to clogged drains.

deisegreenway

Visited the Waterford to Kilmeaden section today and it looks like a massive amount of work has been done since it got underway last week. Vegetation has been stripped for a few kilometres, work underway in at least 3 places by separate crews. At last we have progress!

albert kidd

deisegreenway..where abouts is the waterford to kilmeaden section..id like to go have a look myself..i passed out kilmeaden way earlier today on the bike and seen notting:o:D

deisegreenway

albert kidd wrote: »

deisegreenway..where abouts is the waterford to kilmeaden section..id like to go have a look myself..i passed out kilmeaden way earlier today on the bike and seen notting:o:D

Hi Albert Kidd, as we cant yet post links, the best thing to do is go to our website and click on "Route Map". That Google Map will allow you to zoom in and see exactly where the route is!

albert kidd

deisegreenway wrote: »

Hi Albert Kidd, as we cant yet post links, the best thing to do is go to our website and click on "Route Map". That Google Map will allow you to zoom in and see exactly where the route is!

super...ill have a look.

thanks.

JMcL

They're hard at work on the section out at Carraiganore the past couple of days, making good progress. Exciting!

deisegreenway

JMcL wrote: »

They're hard at work on the section out at Carraiganore the past couple of days, making good progress. Exciting!

It's well and truly underway alright. If someone can make us post 3 more comments, we'll have 50 and be able to put up some photos!!

Páid

The link in the first post of this thread is giving a 404 not found http://www.waterfordcouncil.ie/en/en/community/cycleandpedestriangreenway/

I searched for "greenway" and didn't get any results.

mcgratheoin

Páid wrote: »

The link in the first post of this thread is giving a 404 not found http://www.waterfordcouncil.ie/en/en/community/cycleandpedestriangreenway/

I searched for "greenway" and didn't get any results.

I think that was a proposal link - now that the proposal is going ahead, there's no need for consultation.

Try this one

deisegreenway

The opportunity for submissions took place in two separate rounds in 2014...Dungarvan to Kilmeaden and Kilmeaden to Waterford.

Tigerandahalf

I gave a look at a few photos on the facebook site and the route looks really beautiful with a nice mix of terrain and scenery. The viaduct could be a real selling point. Looks beautiful. With the rosslare ferry huge opportunities for the region but I am sure a lot of Irish will look to holiday there as well. How long will the finished route be from Dungarvan to Waterford?
Thanks

deisegreenway

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I gave a look at a few photos on the facebook site and the route looks really beautiful with a nice mix of terrain and scenery. The viaduct could be a real selling point. Looks beautiful. With the rosslare ferry huge opportunities for the region but I am sure a lot of Irish will look to holiday there as well. How long will the finished route be from Dungarvan to Waterford?
Thanks

Hi Tiger, thanks for checking us out. The route will be around 44km end-to-end with 3 major viaducts (Durrow, Ballyvoile and Kilmacthomas) and an approx 400m long tunnel (Ballyvoile). The greenway will use all these (with Ballyvoile Viaduct and Tunnel opening in 2015), there will be no deviations.

Leaving our own obvious bias out of it, it's fantastic to see Ireland getting its act together and putting such assets back to such great use.

Tigerandahalf

I have never been down that end of the country but will definitely take the bike down there at some stage. I might even bring the fishing rod too. I was watching Nationwide the other night and it had a very good programme on Brittany in France. It seems there is a big cycling scene there as well and they have put together a lot of cycling trails, so tourists from that region would be attracted to the Waterford area perhaps.
It seems it will be a similar length to the Mayo Greenway which is 42km. Hopefully it will all come to fruition.

deisegreenway

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

I have never been down that end of the country but will definitely take the bike down there at some stage. I might even bring the fishing rod too. I was watching Nationwide the other night and it had a very good programme on Brittany in France. It seems there is a big cycling scene there as well and they have put together a lot of cycling trails, so tourists from that region would be attracted to the Waterford area perhaps.
It seems it will be a similar length to the Mayo Greenway which is 42km. Hopefully it will all come to fruition.

It will definitely come to fruition alright, we'll never let the campaign go until the greenway is completely finished!!

Brittany is huge cycling territory despite having fairly damp weather. If you go to Google Maps and activate the "Bicycling" layer, you'll see the routes they have. Many of these are ones we put up on Google Maps and there are hundreds of kilometres more that we haven't yet had time to add. Ireland can have all this.

8valve

As a Waterford native and (sometimes) dedicated cyclist, I'm delighted to see this progressing in my locality...it'll be a major asset in terms of tourism which will, in turn, aid employment.

pat25c

I wonder if there are any plans to link up the desi greenway to the barrow navigation at St mullins and on to the grand canal ?

Carawaystick

There was some talk of making the Waterford - New Ross line a Greenway.

You'ld want to get the line to Rosslare going to capture people off the ferry

Carawaystick

There was some talk of making the Waterford - New Ross line a Greenway.

You'ld want to get the line to Rosslare going to capture people off the ferry

kayaksurfbum

Carawaystick wrote: »

There was some talk of making the Waterford - New Ross line a Greenway.

You'ld want to get the line to Rosslare going to capture people off the ferry

I think thats been worked on at the moment. They have taken up all the track.

pat25c

It would be great to link it up to the dublin galway greenway & join the athenry colonny line & possibly on to Belfast with all the trails that are being planed in the north