Wheels in motion to link Navan and Trim with 11km cycleway

A TWO-WAY cycle track between Navan and Trim, which would form a link to the Meath Blueway project, could be in place next year.

The scheme which will include an attractive two-way rural track along the edge of the existing Navan/Trim road has gone on public display.

The track will run on the right hand side of the road as you travel from Navan towards Trim.

The Pathfinder Cycle Scheme will provide shared active travel facilities and traffic calming measures on the R161 Navan to Trim Regional Road.

The scheme provides for 9kms of two-way segregated cycle track and 2kms of shared active travel facility from the Balreask Cross Roads to the South of Navan to the Newtown junction in Trim; It will include traffic light/controlled raised pedestrian crossing at the Newtown Road, and at a meeting of Navan Municipal Council last week, councillors heard the project would also include safety works at the junction of the Trim Road and the Borallion in Navan.

The shared walking/cycle ways will at either end of the scheme on the outskirts of the towns, where there would be more pedestrian traffic.

The work will also include infrastructure works including kerbing, pavement, drainage, traffic signs and road markings, vehicle restraint systems and landscaping works.

The councillors were told that the works can be carried out within the existing public road reservation with no requirement for acquisition of privately owned lands and can therefore be delivered more quickly.

The Mayor, Cllr Eddie Fennessy said the scheme is an important part of the larger Boyne Valley Blueway project. “When completed we will have a cycle network in the county that links Drogheda with Slane, Navan, Trim, the Royal Canal at Longwood and on to Mullingar and Athlone from there.

“The route between Navan and Trim is a key leg of the overall scheme. Part 8 planning can cause delays, we are very fortunate that this leg of the scheme can be delivered much more quickly through the Section 38 process.

“I can't emphasise the importance of this project enough. The local economy will boom along the path of the Boyne Blueway. It is a key infrastructural project in terms of local business and employment opportunities and we must pull out all the stops to ensure it's speedy delivery.”

Cllr Padraig Fitzsimons said that when works starts at the Navan end, traffic lights there will provide a welcome relief to traffic at the Borallion junction. “What is the plan for that cross once the work is complete,” he asked.

Director of Services, Martin Murray, said that even without the cycle scheme, the council had plans for safety works at that junction, but they could now use the scheme for an early intervention at the cross.

Cllr Yemi Adenuga said she was delighted with the scheme.

“It is truly exciting, well done I hope work starts by the end of the year.”

Cllr Linda Nelson Murray also welcomed the scheme but asked if there were plans to educate drivers, who may have been driving for many years, that if turning left or right they may be crossing a cycleway.

Cllr Francis Deane asked if there were any issues with farmers field gates and was told all landowners had been written to.

Cllr Emer Tóibín asked why that particular scheme had been chosen as opposed to a route from Navan to Slane.

Mr Murray said the council had applied for this scheme because it didn't involve any acquisition of land as they can use the existing soft margins.”We were able to proceed under a completely different funding model.

“It is the same from Trim to Summerhill and Summerhill to Kilcock,” he said.

“The intention is to get to the Royal Canal and the National Cycle Network from Dublin to Galway, so we get tourists coming north from it into the county.”

“The Navan to Drogheda Greenway will supersede a cycle way along the Slane Navan Road.”

The plans are currently on public display and the latest date for submissions is Friday 27th September.

A presentation was also given to Trim MD councillors on the scheme at their September meeting.

Councillors generally welcomed the proposal and the intention to connect the various greenways but expressed frustration at the slow pace of progress in delivering the Boyne Greenway which will eventually link Drogheda, Slane, Navan and Trim.

Cllr Noel French said he couldn't understand “how we still don't have a Boyne Greenway between Navan and Drogheda” and while this Pathfinder project was welcome, he said the Boyne Greenway would have a much bigger impact in terms of bringing in tourists and was being talked about for over 15 years now.

He was told the project was progressing and the preferred route has been identified and it is the intention to make an application to Bord Pleanala but that the challenges ecologically and sensitivity of the route could not be understated. The Boyne Greenway also involves many landowners while the Trim to Navan cycleway did not require any land acquisition.

Meanwhile Cllr Dave Boyne asked how much the Trim to Navan Cycleway scheme would cost and was told preliminary figures were around €5m. He argued that this funding should be spent dealing with the “basics” like speed ramps outside schools first and then do the “luxury” items after. However he was told that the funding came from the NTA for Active Travel projects and they don't have the option of spending it on other things.

Cllr Ronan Moore disagreed with describing the cycle path as a luxury. “If more people cycled, it would mean less cars on the road and they would be safer. “Allowing my kids and other children to cycle to school safely is not a luxury, I think it is a necessity,” he said.