Westmeath County Council, funded by the Department of Transport through the National Transport Authority’s Active Travel Programme, has identified key routes in Athlone and Mullingar along which to provide enhanced Active Travel facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.
These enhanced facilities will generally be provided within the existing road footprint and will allow school-goers, commuters and visitors to travel safely and sustainably to work, school, leisure and retail destinations in each town.
Westmeath County Council has appointed Atkins, as design consultant for the Athlone and Mullingar Active Travel Schemes projects. Multidisciplinary services provided by Atkins will include concept design and option development, preliminary design, and planning processes. The combined length of the proposed routes is approximately 15 kilometres in Athlone and nine kilometres in Mullingar and these include advance Pathfinder Projects in both towns. The Pathfinder Projects, as approved by the Department of Transport, are to be exemplar transport projects with innovative and transformative improvements for walking and cycling.
Cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council, Cllr Liam McDaniel, welcomed the signing of the contract, stating that it demonstrates Westmeath County Council’s ongoing commitment to the development of Active Travel infrastructure in the county.
Westmeath County Council Chief Executive, Mr Pat Gallagher, also welcomed the appointment of Atkins stating that the projects will contribute to the delivery of Active Travel infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists in Athlone and Mullingar.
It will provide commuters with alternative travel options and help reduce car dependency in accordance with the National Sustainable Mobility Policy and the Climate Action Plan.
“Active travel schemes connect communities in a safe, convenient, and environmentally sustainable way. We are pleased to support Westmeath County Council with the design of these exciting schemes.
"Our appointment builds on our existing work with local authorities across the country, the National Transport Authority and Transport infrastructure Ireland, on the delivery of approximately 150km of urban active travel routes and 200km of interurban greenways in Ireland," Ursula O’Higgins, Technical Director, Atkins Ireland, said.
