The most recently completed stretch of the ' Old Rail Trail' between Mullingar and Athlone is being hailed as a great addition to amenities in the area, especially by people in the town of Athlone.
The cycleway extension which was officially opened in October of 2022 brings the trail from the 'White Gates' at the Ballymahon Road , as far as the town Marina, and incorporates a €4 million cycleway underpass beneath the Dublin to Galway rail line.
The route means that people can cycle straight from Mullingar into the town centre of Athlone without having to negotiate traffic on the streets.
Storyboards with the history of the old workhouse and the Abbey Church grounds which the route passes through have also proved a popular addition to the trail.
Senior Engineer Michael Kelly said people have been using the new section in their thousands since it opened just over a year ago.
''We'd be very happy with what's happened with that section. So it is extended 42 kilometers stretch from Mullingar to the Old Rail Trail down as far as white gates, in as far as the marina, going under the Dublin Galway railway line, while we don't have a counter on that specific stretch, we have one just east of White Gate it would be shown numbers in the order of 900 users say on a good summer's day, We'd have an overall annual figure of about a quarter of a million users per year. So from observation we are seeing on the stretch that opened last year will have similar numbers. So we're very happy with that.''
