The senior engineer overseeing the Dublin Galway greenway says he hopes a new Code of Practice for voluntary acquisition of lands will help the last leg of the project run smoothly.
The preferred route for the section between Athlone and Galway was published in recent weeks and will see the track running around 180 kilometres in total.
The trail will take in Bord na Mona lands, as well as areas owned by Coillte, and around 25% of it is likely to run through private land.
Michael Kelly says all of the routes being considered had the majority running on public lands in an effort to cause as little disruption to landowners as possible.
He says he's hoping that a new code of practice being developed specifically for landowners through the farming organisations will help this time around:
