Off-road cycling route for Co Mayo

SOME €1.6 million is to be spent on a bike and walking route in Co Mayo, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey has announced.

He said the money would be made available to Mayo County Council to spend on a 17.5km “off-road cycle and walking route” between Newport and Mulrany.

The route had the “potential” to be a “very significant tourist attraction for the area” and a safe “means of local travel by bike and on foot”.

Mr Dempsey said he wanted new routes to help re-engage people with cycling and to promote a shift from the car to more sustainable forms of transport.

“We already know that nationally over 200,000 people drive less than 4km to work every day. Investing in safe, attractive cycling and walking facilities will help to encourage more people out of their cars, particularly for short journeys,” he said.

This new route is mainly along the former Midland Great Western Railway line and its development required the agreement of local landowners to allow access to their land.

A spokesman for Mr Dempsey said the route was identified in Fáilte Ireland as “an important part of a linear cycling route linking Achill with Westport which potentially could offer users 42 km of traffic free cycling”.

He said businesses in Mayo had worked with Fáilte Ireland over the last year and had signed up to an “adventure charter” to deliver serviced to visitors coming to the area to engage in a wide range of land and water based activities.

This route would add significant value to the overall tourism product in the region, he said.

It is expected the route will be completed by Mayo County Council by the end of the year. The council will maintain and manage it also.

The Department of Transport is contributing €1.3 million, with the remainder being provided by the Department of Community Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and Fáilte Ireland

The development of off-road cycle and walking routes is identified in the department’s National Cycle Policy as one of the necessary steps in establishing a “culture of cycling in Ireland”.