Greenway plans to provide cycle link from Tullamore to Mullingar
Members of the public are being invited to have their say on an ambitious greenway plan which will result in cyclists being able to cycle directly from Tullamore to Mullingar.
The planned Kilbeggan to Mullingar greenway will see the linking up of the two greenways on the Royal and Grand Canals, thereby establishing a walking and cycling route running directly from the greenway link along the Grand Canal in Offaly to the Royal Canal in Mullingar.
When fully completed, cyclists will be able to follow a route from Offaly all the way to Dublin using the greenway network.
The project, which is being carried out by Westmeath County Council in collaboration with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), aims to complete a strategic link between the established greenway infrastructure on the Grand Canal Greenway (linking Kilbeggan to Tullamore) and the Old Rail Trail/Royal Canal Greenways (linking Mullingar with Athlone, Dublin, and Longford).
As part of Phase 3 of the public consultation process, Westmeath County Council held an in-person public consultation event in the Bloomfield House Hotel in Mullingar recently and they are asking those who were unable to attend to make their views known through a number of other channels.
The local authority launched a virtual consultation platform this week which can be accessed via the project website: www.kilbeggantomullingargreenway.ie
Feedback on the project, and the emerging preferred route corridor for it, can be submitted on the project website, with a deadline for submissions of Friday, July 25.
Westmeath County Council can also be contacted by email (info@kilbeggantomullingargreenway.ie) or by phone (087 671 3210, (9am to 4:30pm, Monday to Friday) if members of the public wish to give feedback.
As part of Phase 3 of the consultation process, Project Liaison Officers will also be available to meet with landowners along the emerging preferred route corridor by appointment, or to talk to them on the phone or by online virtual meeting.
Two feasible route corridor options for the proposed greenway were identified in 2023, both of which would start at Kilbeggan Harbour and end in Mullingar, with one corridor to the west of Lough Ennell and the other to the east of the lake. Following feedback from the second round of public consultation in May of last year, at which both routes were displayed, the emerging preferred route corridor was then identified.
The route corridor starts at Kilbeggan Harbour and includes both Carrick Wood and Belvedere House and Gardens as it travels towards Mullingar to the east of Lough Ennell.
A corridor linking it to Lilliput Adventure Centre is also proposed, before the greenway joins up with the Old Rail Trail (Mullingar to Athlone stretch) to the southwest of Mullingar.