TII to take the lead in completing the Dublin Galway Greenway



It was announced this week, that Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) will be handed the lead role in delivering the remaining sections of the Dublin Galway Greenway. It is hoped the TII's expertise in delivering national infrastructure projects and their ability to negotiate with landowners will help break the current empass. Furthermore, the dept of Transport and Tourism will soon release it's national greenway strategy which is likely to address how best farmers and landowners can be adequately consulted with and compensated for route options.

Plans for the western end of the coast to coast greenway were halted in 2015 as landowners in West Galway strongly opposed the routing of the route through their land holdings. The then minister of transport, Paschal Donohoe, decided to pause the project and direct the allocated funding to the eastern end of the project. Kildare, Meath councils were allocated funds to complete their section of the Royal Canal Greenway which as part of the Dublin Galway route. Since 2015 great progress has been made on the Royal Canal greenway and it is now almost entirely complete from Maynooth to the Shannon in Longford. There is just one remaining section between Kilcock and Enfield that remains to be completed and is currently in the planning process.

The Royal Canal greenway in Dublin, however, has not made as much progress. Fingal have awarded the design of the section between Castleknock and the Kildare border to consultants who are currently producing a design for the challenging section of the "Deep Sinking". Cllr. Roderic O'Gorman, a proactive councillor from Dublin 15, has been keeping the issue raised at the Fingal council meetings.

The Royal canal greenway project which was also previously stalled in Dublin City has had some great news. In recent weeks there has been great news for the project with funding being announced to complete the Royal Canal cycleway from Ashtown to Dublin City. The Dublininquirer  reported that the National Transport Authority (NTA) is to allocate €1.45 million for the Royal Canal cycle route as part of the set sustainable-transport projects this year.

The royal canal cycleway in Dublin City is being advanced in 4 phases. Phase 1 running from Guild Street to Sheriff Street Upper is already constructed. Phase 2 runs from Sherrif St to North Strand Rd. Phase 3 is from North Strand Rd to Phibsborough Road, Dublin 7. Phase 4 runs from Phibsborough Road, Dublin 7 to Ashtown in Dublin 15. Details of the phases can be found here.





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