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Galway to Athlone Greenway

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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 4,308 ✭✭✭beggars_bush


    Very logical reasons for it tourism wise

    Clonmacnoise south of Athlone, former canal path can run up to Ballinasloe

    Grand Canal tie in at Shannon Harbour/Banagher

    Lough Derg loop tie in at Portumna

    Burren not far away from Gort- Kinvara



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,153 ✭✭✭ratracer


    I’d agree with you @beggars_bush , it’s not designed as a cycling “motorway”, more a scenic route!



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,409 ✭✭✭jamesd


    Its a fantastic route if it goes ahead , very close to me so would be fantastic for the kids plus I can see my club taking a few Sunday spins on it.

    There is a lot of local landowners in Meelick and outside of Portumna against it.



  • Registered Users Posts: 168 ✭✭9320




  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Well for one, this spaghetti mess

    I get that they have to accommodate land owners, I really do, but if the reality ends up anything like that its going to be balls of a route. In the example above you are looking at 6 90 degree turns over a very short distance. Granted its literally just an example, but the fact that its even included is a bit of a red flag to be honest.

    To me, the right thing to do in something like that example, would be cutting through the green land which would eliminate 4 turns. This would allow for landholders A, C, D, E & F to not see any impact, with just landholder B having it cut through.

    I've also seen from the drawing, that they are likely to adhere, in a lot of sections, to townland boundaries. This is not necessarily a bad thing on its own, but it will make for a very messy route in some areas if they are rigid in their adherence.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 3,153 ✭✭✭ratracer


    The last time they tried to design this route, they did exactly as you are referring to there @DaCor, planned to plough straight through the middle of land/ farms without much consultation, and that is why I believe it ultimately failed, as no farmer is going to voluntarily sell “the land”

    I do hope that the drawing above is not an actual plan of what they intend, but can’t help think it’s a way of mitigating/ allaying some fears/ backlash from land owners when the route corridor is still quite wide. I’d agree that drawing would be stupid and a pointless waste of money if that turns out to be the case though.



  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Yeah I agree, they made an absolute balls of it the last time around. This time, however, I think they've swung too far in the other direction in attempting to placate the landowners at the expense of the greenway.

    But hey, maybe I'm just being a negative nelly, and it'll be alright once opened, I guess we'll have to wait and see



  • Registered Users Posts: 168 ✭✭9320


    That drawing is to allay fears as ratracer states - it's to show the flexibility there can be with Greenways. Only the preferred route corridor is determined not the exact route so there are no specific examples yet to be concerned about. To be honest, the Mullingar - Athlone section is boring and seems longer because it's so straight, a few bends and turns will make for a much more interesting and enjoyable route.

    The tweet with the very windy route, from Citizen Wolf I think, was just moronic and shows total ignorance of the difficulties this route has faced in getting this far. No one is going to commute from Athlone to Galway, yes some will commute from Athenry and that's likely to be connected to the route in the coming years but some of the commentary from so-called cycling advocates is so far removed from reality as to be joke. It's taken 6 years to get to this space since the last effort failed!



  • Registered Users Posts: 654 ✭✭✭Johnny Jukebox


    I'd happily trade a few bends for a viable route, its for bikes not 40 foot trucks.



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,811 ✭✭✭cletus


    I understand that people want a useable route, but I can also understand that land owners might not want to have their land cut in two pieces, as was suggested for landowner B above. Is it farm land? Dairy? Tillage? How do they access the section cut off? Will they have an access point on either side of the Greenway? Will they be allowed to temporarily block the Greenway to move cattle/machinery from one part of the land to another?



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  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    I hear ya, and I feel the same, I just hope its not going to be a ridiculous amount of bends just for the sake of not having to CPO a few bits here and there



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,811 ✭✭✭cletus


    That's easy to say when it's not your land they're CPO'ing 😁



  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    CPO's are part and parcel of any development such as this unless its on 100% state lands, which this is not, so no, I don't have any issues with CPO's.

    I don't have any issues with CPO's in general to be honest, regardless of the project and while I haven't ever been subject to one, family members have been so I'm quite familiar with the process



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,811 ✭✭✭cletus


    I'm aware of that, I just think that it's things like "sure it's just a few CPO's, what the big deal" is why things like this get held up. If the people who are under the CPO feel inconsequential in the process, of course they'll push back.


    Anyway, I don't own any land, and I don't live in Galway, so I've no real skin in the game



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,308 ✭✭✭beggars_bush


    Cycle along a canal, plenty of sharp turns on towpaths at benda and up over bridges



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,811 ✭✭✭Tigerandahalf


    Not sure why you wouldn't want bends on it. It is a greenway not a cycle speedway.

    It looks like they will follow boundaries between farms. This was done on a section of the Limerick greenway and it is no issue. I'd prefer a meandering route. The Athlone greenway is very straight in sections and can be a bit boring as a result.

    People have mentioned Coole Park and other places. Will the greenways go straight through these places or will there be spurs onto it?

    With the route going down to Portumna this could link up with the Lough Derg trail and onwards down to Limerick City (via UL) and potentially onto the Limerick greenway if they connect Rathkeale to the city.

    We could have a fantastic set of trails in 10 years and it will be a huge boost for rural tourism.



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