Cycleway route from Athlone to Galway unlikely to be finalised this year

The route for the planned cycleway from Athlone to Galway is now not expected to be completed before the end of this year.

An outline of the planned route - known as a 'route corridor' - was announced last December, and it was previously anticipated that the specifics of the route would be finalised before the end of 2022.

However, the Westmeath/Offaly Independent understands that the route selection process is unlikely to be completed by the year's end and will instead extend into 2023.

The route corridor extends westwards from Athlone to Shannonbridge, where there is to be a link with Ballinasloe, and it goes on through east and south Galway, via Meelick, Portumna, Gort, Kinvara and Oranmore, before reaching Galway city.

The route selection process has proven contentious in parts of county Galway, and on Monday, November 28, a group of local landowners staged a protest in relation to it outside Galway County Council's offices.

The protestors gathered to take issue with what they felt was a flawed process that involved inadequate consultation.

In The Connacht Tribune, Jean Molloy, of Stoney Island, Portumna, a member of the East Galway Greenway Action Group, said: "The preferred route is in remote areas off-road, which may see tourists a few times a year but won't be safe for us.

"Why can't they go along the road, as long as it's segregated? Yet we're expected to give up our livelihoods, our privacy, our security."

The cycleway bridge over the Shannon in Athlone, which is to be a major landmark on the Dublin to Galway cycleway route, is expected to be fully completed and opened to the public by next Easter, which falls in early April.