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A ‘GREAT’ CYCLE route will be opened in Abbeyfeale by the Minister for Transport today.
Minister Leo Varadkar is to officially open the route at 11am today, during a day of visits to West Limerick and West Kerry.
The Great Southern Cycleway comes following the success of Great Western Greenway project in Mayo. The Great Western Greenway was so successful that a National Cycle Network Fund was put in place in early 2012 to fund new cycle routes around the country which would also aim to cater for local transport demand, and attract local users for recreational purposes as well as tourists.
Funding of €7m was allocated to deliver 11 projects, and one of these successful projects was the 3km extension to the Great Southern Trail – Abbeyfeale to Kilmorna.
It is this trail that is being opened by Minister Varadkar today, and it completes the Great Southern Trail in Limerick.
Extension
The cycleway involved the extension of an additional 3km section of the Great Southern Trail from Abbeyfeale to Kilmorna on the Kerry border which runs along the old Limerick to Tralee rail line.
Its completion means that the main urban settlements in West Limerick are linked by a dedicated cycle/walkway, which utilises an unused section of State infrastructure.
The trail follows the route taken by the Limerick-Tralee railway line, and takes in Newcastle West, Rathkeale and Abbeyfeale to the Kerry border.
The department explained:
Both on road routes and off road routes are being funded. There are over twenty access points to the Great Southern Trail from various public road in Limerick to facilitate locals and those who wish to do loop walks/cycles.
More information on the national cycle network can be found here.
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A map of the Great Southern Trail would have been more informative than the photo of the shadow of a bicycle.
Hi Pete, I’ll try and source that for you. Please note I have included a link for the national cycle network above, so that people can look at that.
Thanks
Aoife
Cycled a little in Denmark and Holland with amazing infrastructure for bikes, but what would they give for our scenery? the potential here is amazing, can only imagine a cycle road from donegal to cork.
http://www.southerntrail.net/index.html
Have a look at this website Pete. It’s not great but it is more informative than, as you pointed out, a picture of a shadow of a bike.
Maybe I could be a jounalist.
Truly a step in the right direction. Next step…. Insuring all urban areas are cycle friendly (designated continues marked paths, signage, education for both drivers and cyclists, signage).
Thank you to all who made this Limerick route happen!
A great use of old railways that were never going to be reinstated. The greeneway from Newport to Achill was and is a fabulous amenity for locals and tourists alike and is used all year round.
Hopefully this one takes off too.
and It goes all the way to westport now
I’d love to see trains on the disused lines but thats not going to happen.
Cycle lanes are a fantastic use of these lines. The rail routes are mainly off road and being rail routes mostly flat. Any knocked bridges can cheaply be rebuilt to take bikes.
Looking forward to cycling that. The Great Western Cycleway from Achill to Westport is fantastic with stunning views all the way. The old train track from Athlone to Mullingar is going to be converted to a Cycleway too.
Please help the campaign for a similar route through Sligo and Mayo!
Maybe a reinstatement of a light rail from Tralee to limerick might have been a better idea take cars off the road and a useful way of getting people home safe on winter nights just saying …
I’ve been saying that for years. And it would create a few jobs too.
And cost hoe much
Problem with light rail is that the returns on the initial investment is very poor, and that is based on case studies from built up urban areas with significant populations.
Given the rural character of the area, the population densities of the catchment areas along the route, which, I would risk an educated guess, wouldn’t be sufficient.
Rapid bus transit has been proven to be a greater investment and correlates with a reduction in cars on the road, but again, the population densities wouldn’t be sufficient.
It’s a nice idea and everything and would help solve the problem of rural transport, but the numbers simply don’t add up.
I live on the Great Southern Trail. It divides my property and I drive across it to access my home. It’s a fantastic amenity which we use every day, our neighbours use it everyday and we meet a constant flow of people on it, particularly at the weekend. By and large it is a great success and it encourages people into having a walk or a cycle and now because of the distance it is, running has become popular. It’s safe to use and the kids locally use it to meet and cycle. A fine idea well executed.
Don’t mind those Kerry backwoodsmen!! They are after public land but haven’t a hope!
I’m sure Leo the Lion will talk them into dust!
Deenihan will be hobbling around there too; sure they are his farming FG followers! Those who ca n afford burn imported coal and don’t have to cut turf for fuel for winter!
Having said all that, all decent, trustworthy persons are welcome to check out this fantastic facility!
Excellent new. More cycleways please!
Isn’t it bloody marvellous!! They spend God knows how much providing a marked cycle way and the (expletive deleted) cycles on the line. Not to worry, the motorist will look out for him. I am fed up with cyclists and pedestrians who ignore the rules of the road and expect drivers to avoid them. Likewise, women drivers on mobile phones and drivers who ignore road markings. Just follow the rules of the road, people, and we will all get home safe. At the moment, it’s a jungle out there
Paul the image attached to this article is a stock image. The Great Southern Trail is along a disused railway line, it’s not a cycle lane on a road. It keeps cyclists away from motorists who think they know the law.
As for the Rules of the Road and cyclists: The Rules of the Road is not the law. There is no law requiring cyclists to stay in cycle lanes (expect contra-flow ones and ones in pedestrian areas). I’m fed up of all road users thinking that the Rules of the Road is the law, when it is an outdated and incomplete document from a quango clearly not doing their job — at least a digital version could include a basic outline of road traffic law change.
What is most likely happening in the photo is that, unlike those viewing the photographer, the cyclist sees the photographer behind the camera who appears to be in the cycle lane, partly or fully. So the cyclist is taking action to avoid hitting the photographer. There could be other reasons
Cycles lanes in Dublin are disgraceful all the rubbish on the roads gets blown into them
Followed the links to the National Cycle Network’s Scoping Study. In fairness, it hardly constitutes a ‘network’ – unless references are made to telephone lines that might connect them. There are great (paper) plans for long distance routes (p.24) but the paltry ACTUAL number of unconnected local developed routes only continues to emphasise how little we are doing! Forget the off-road routes – just mark the on-road routes and educate drivers http://www.smartertravel.ie/sites/default/files/uploads/FINAL%20NCNScopingStudyAugust2010%5B1%5D.pdf
What happened to my comment??
There’s no other comment from you here Philip – and I certainly haven’t deleted any. Why not try to repost?
Thanks
Aoife
Philip, our link to the LL article is up and visible.
Strange how no-one else bothered to link this piece of opportunistic wannabe- landlordism!
You are safe enough on this site unless you call a ‘donkey’ (or anyone) an ‘a^s.’ Or commit the Terrible Sin of writing the correct spelling of ‘secks’
We have terribly prudish and OIde-worlde Victorian matronly and holy-joe censors here!!
It’s a U.K. media ownership thing!
A sort of civilising -the-paddy crusade.
O.K., then Aoife – prove me right!
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