Athlone to Ballinahown greenway nearly finished
A new cycling and walking trail from Carrickobrien in Athlone to Ballinahown is due to be "substantially complete" by the end of next month, with its opening to the public expected before the end of this year.
The multi-million euro development is taking place on Bord na Móna (BnM) lands, and is being developed by the company in conjunction with Fáilte Ireland, using Government and EU Just Transition funding.
The almost seven-kilometre cycling and walking track between Carrickobrien and Ballinahown is being created through Bunahinly and Kilgarvan bogs outside Athlone.
Construction work began last year and, in an update provided to the Westmeath Independent this week, Fiona Monaghan, head of activities at Fáilte Ireland, said Athlone to Ballinahown in Westmeath, and another trail in Longford, were both likely to be "substantially complete" by the end of September.
She said that this meant "the trail will be complete, the fencing will be complete, and the bulk of the pavilions, or the trailheads and gateways, will be done".
She said some other elements, such as "wayfinding, orientation, and interpretation," will still be ongoing beyond September, meaning the trail won't be able to open immediately at that stage.
"We can't give an indicative date for the opening (to the public), other than it will open before the end of the year, and there will be a formal opening," Ms Monaghan added.
The greenway at Ballinahown is part of a wider Midlands Trails Network and is due to link in with planned trails in West Offaly and continue on to Lough Boora.
Ms Monaghan said plans were also being progressed for a trail that would take a turn off the Athlone to Ballinahown route, shortly before reaching the latter village, and would continue on to Clonmacnoise, thus providing a long-awaited greenway link between Athlone and the ancient monastic site.
"The section to Clonmacnoise is only going to get into planning (approval stage) under this process, but we would be very hopeful that, post-Just Transition, we will continue to work with BnM on getting that realised through some other funding mechanism," Ms Monaghan said.
"(Approaching Clonmacnoise) is a particularly sensitive section of the bog, so there was a huge amount of due diligence done on all of the environmental screenings and reports."
Athlone resident Flan Barnwell, who along with Paul Mulvey and others, has long been advocating for the development of a greenway link between the town and Clonmacnoise, praised BnM for the work done to date on the section to Ballinahown and said he was looking forward to seeing the progression of the route to Clonmacnoise.
Last week, Westmeath County Council formally granted planning approval for a local 1.3km greenway in Ballinahown which will "connect Ballinahown Sports Park, the village and surrounding hinterland" to the Bórd na Móna greenway corridor that's intended to form part of the wider Athlone-Clonmacnoise greenway.