Mullingar - Athlone Greenway progress?

bovis

Hi Sunny Dayz,

The Westmeath section (between the Meath County Border to Coolnahay Bridge) and the section from Ashtown to Castleknock are the only sections that are current at "Greenway" standard. The other sections are at various stages of stakeholder consultation, planning or construction. The next section to open is the Mullingar to Athlone section (more precisely the Ballina to Garycastle section) is due to open in July 2015.

Here's a brochure produced by Westmeath County Council on the open section.
https://www.westmeathcoco.ie/en/media/Westmeath%20Royal%20Canal%20Greenway.pdf

No - you're not getting a head of yourself. Be sure to get out and use the open sections. People using it will show "the powers that be" that there's benefit in funding the rest of it.

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Does anyone know if there are any detailed maps of the greenway? With access points etc. Or am I getting ahead of myself?!

nice_guy80

Looking forward to this

lots of nice pubs along the way!

Just a little Samba

Long Gone wrote: »

Why would anyone want to bring a pushbike on it ? - It's too far to pushbike it from Athlone to Mullingar. If they allowed motorbikes / quads on it it would be a safe alternative way of making the journey and avoid you having to travel on the main roads which are a bit dangerous on a motorcycle.

If you can't safely ride a motorbike on a main road you probably shouldn't be riding a motorbike.

demanufactured

Walked from Athlone to Moate as a kid.. Will be great to be able to do that again on a bike.

Long Gone

Just a little Samba wrote: »

If you can't safely ride a motorbike on a main road you probably shouldn't be riding a motorbike.

What do you know about riding motorcycles ? ? :rolleyes: - If you'd ever riden one you'd know that the biggest danger comes not from riding the bike but from the idiocy of other moron motorists..... Problem on a motorcycle is that no matter how experienced or careful a rider you are you are always far too vulnerable and unprotected from other road users.

pointer28

Long Gone wrote: »

What do you know about walking ? ? :rolleyes: - If you'd ever walked you'd know that the biggest danger comes not from walking but from the idiocy of motorcycles on footpaths..... Problem walking is that no matter how experienced or careful a walker you are you are always far too vulnerable and unprotected from motorcycles on footpaths.

Like I said before, I'm not anti motorcycles, but a footpath is no place for riding them. Your argument about being in danger from other road users also applies to everyone else that uses the roads whether on bicyles, driving a car, riding a horse etc etc etc. I don't see while motorcyclists should be allowed special treatment.

demanufactured

Drove through Moate this evening... Had a look at the level crossing on the Mount Temple Rd.... Looks good.
People using it for walking already.

Redbishop

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Looking forward to this

lots of nice pubs along the way!

Yes, its a great initiative and am looking forward to it myself, though if on the bike the pubs might just see me for grub. Drinking is a no no when cycling too.
Enjoy.:)

Angron

Right. Roosterman71, do not call people trolls, it only serves to derail threads and to mock people.

Pointer28, while it is clear that you edited the original post when quoting, it doesn't stand up to comparisons of the original point and comes across more as trying to annoy the original poster in this context.

Long Gone, in future if you are reporting posts, do not announce it on thread as that can also take things off topic, as well as rile other posters up. Reporting the post alone will be enough.

Some posts have been deleted, and I will be keeping a close eye on this thread.

Angron

For the record, from what I've read of the Greenway it seems like it will be a pedestrian and cyclist route, so I'd be extremely surprised to find motorbikes or the like being allowed on the route. It would simply present too much danger for pedestrians in my eyes.

Mearings

Long Gone wrote: »

Why would anyone want to bring a pushbike on it ? - It's too far to pushbike it from Athlone to Mullingar. If they allowed motorbikes / quads on it it would be a safe alternative way of making the journey and avoid you having to travel on the main roads which are a bit dangerous on a motorcycle.

Quite right. Bicycles should use the M6 & N52 if they wish to go to Mullingar.

nice_guy80

Mearings wrote: »

Quite right. Bicycles should use the M6 & N52 if they wish to go to Mullingar.

What?

Just a little Samba

Mearings wrote: »

Quite right. Bicycles should use the M6 & N52 if they wish to go to Mullingar.

So cyclists shouldn't use the cycleway which was built be be a stretch of a Dublin to Galway cycleway in a bid to promote cycletourism in Ireland?

Makes perfect sense...

pointer28

Mearings wrote: »

Quite right. Bicycles should use the M6 & N52 if they wish to go to Mullingar.

Bicycles are banned from M roads, and rightly so, just as motorcycles should be banned from Greenways.

BoB_BoT

pointer28 wrote: »

Bicycles are banned from M roads, and rightly so, just as motorcycles should be banned from Greenways.

I could be wrong, but I think he was being sarcastic.

Rasmus

Ok I know this is a bit off topic, but since we're talking bicycles, does it bother anyone else when cyclists use the main new Garrycastle bypass bridge when there is a perfectly good cycle lane right beside it? They hold up traffic and I can't see how it could be faster.

roosterman71

I do this myself. The reason being that the path is usually covered in dirt/small stones/glass which isn't on the road. Any of those can be a disaster for the tyres on racers if they are sharp enough.

Also, in my defence, once I get up the hill, I'd be clocking 50km/h on the way down as far as the college/spar so shouldn't be holding up traffic

Rasmus

roosterman71 wrote: »

I do this myself. The reason being that the path is usually covered in dirt/small stones/glass which isn't on the road. Any of those can be a disaster for the tyres on racers if they are sharp enough.

Also, in my defence, once I get up the hill, I'd be clocking 50km/h on the way down as far as the college/spar so shouldn't be holding up traffic

Fair enough! Thanks for the feedback!

Just a little Samba

Rasmus wrote: »

Ok I know this is a bit off topic, but since we're talking bicycles, does it bother anyone else when cyclists use the main new Garrycastle bypass bridge when there is a perfectly good cycle lane right beside it? They hold up traffic and I can't see how it could be faster.

That "cycle path" is a joke. It's not fit for purpose. It's only marginally better than the joke on the ballymahon Road where they just painted a line down the middle of the footpath.

Rasmus

Just a little Samba wrote: »

That "cycle path" is a joke. It's not fit for purpose. It's only marginally better than the joke on the ballymahon Road where they just painted a line down the middle of the footpath.

I'm glad I asked. It's good to know the reasoning behind it now.

pointer28

Funnily enough, cycled over it this morning and DID use the cycle path but it's crap to be honest, never swept or cleaned, a puncture waiting to happen and road work signs plonked right in the middle of it.

Rasmus

I noticed today the cycle lane that runs along the Blyry road - it is more like a hard shoulder than a cycle lane.

veryangryman

pointer28 wrote: »

Funnily enough, cycled over it this morning and DID use the cycle path but it's crap to be honest, never swept or cleaned, a puncture waiting to happen and road work signs plonked right in the middle of it.

Dont worry - the driving lanes also suffer from these signs. Equality at its best.

roosterman71

One other point, I think the cycle lane is more for lads and lassies out with the kids really, more so than members of a club/those training/etc. In that case, it is a welcome addition to the area. You can safely traverse a lot of busy intersections on a bike away from the traffic flow

Lenin Skynard

This is great news that they are moving the bicyclists onto the railway line.

Just a little Samba

Lenin Skynard wrote: »

This is great news that they are moving the bicyclists onto the railway line.

They aren't moving them anywhere, they are providing additional infrastructure for recreational cyclists and walkers.

Bikes will still be on the roads, thankfully.

demanufactured

Lenin Skynard wrote: »

This is great news that they are moving the bicyclists onto the railway line.

We might make it to Moate this time if we use bikes

Rips

Is there any website or resource for information and updates?

It will be a great pity and a waste of resources if they do restrict access with kissing gates. I believed when this was first proposed that the route was going to be a toll path? Like those in some Coilte managed forestry, where you can buy a pass and use the tracks responsibility.

No rider has any real desire to ride 40km in a straight line, but the route itself or parts of it would be a great link or bypass in some cases to avoid dangerous roads which are mostly now surfaced with tarmac unsuitable for horses.

If this is going to be a dedicated cycle path, will they open the old greenways and canal paths for equestrian use then? As, if it was allowed, you could already ride from Athlone to Dublin via the old greenways, which are maintained but often not surfaced and hence not often used by cyclists...

Riders would happily box up and pay to use trails if they were open, but most of them are not.

monument

Rips wrote: »

Is there any website or resource for information and updates?

It will be a great pity and a waste of resources if they do restrict access with kissing gates. I believed when this was first proposed that the route was going to be a toll path? Like those in some Coilte managed forestry, where you can buy a pass and use the tracks responsibility.

No rider has any real desire to ride 40km in a straight line, but the route itself or parts of it would be a great link or bypass in some cases to avoid dangerous roads which are mostly now surfaced with tarmac unsuitable for horses.

There's no way it's going to be a tolled path.

I'll be cycling the route from Mullingar to Athlone and likely back to Athlone. And when the full route is in place I'll hopefully be using it to cycle from Dublin to Galway.

Rips wrote: »

If this is going to be a dedicated cycle path, will they open the old greenways and canal paths for equestrian use then? As, if it was allowed, you could already ride from Athlone to Dublin via the old greenways, which are maintained but often not surfaced and hence not often used by cyclists...

Riders would happily box up and pay to use trails if they were open, but most of them are not.

It won't be a dedicated cycle path -- it will be a greenway for walking and cycling.

There's no way what are mostly newly or recently upgraded canal greenways would be opened to horse riding -- these are upgrades done to build a network of safe walking and cycling routes, including the Dublin to Galway greenway (which will use the Mullingar to Athlone route and the canal from Mullingar to Dublin).

pointer28

I work in the equestrian world and I'd hate to see these used by horses, just too many things to go wrong;

Piles of horse crap left on the footpaths
Riders on young spooky horses
Bad riders who aren't fit to be on a horse
Riders using any grass sections to gallop/canter their horses
Loose horses (if I fall off my bike it doesn't go anywhere, a horse could end up anywhere and do a lot of damage en route)
Horses get spooked very easily if a bike suddenly appears from behind them, not every cyclist knows this, especially children.

Whether motorcycles or horses, the good ones are never a problem, but unfortunately it only takes one idiot to ruin it for everybody else.