About
About the Project
The study area for the proposed greenway project encompasses the Regional Centre of Dundalk and the coastal town of Carlingford, along with the interconnecting road network. The R173 Regional Road is the main route connecting Dundalk with Carlingford. The R173, along with other regional and local roads in the study area have no provision for pedestrians and cyclists. High vehicle speeds, narrow road widths and lack of segregated facilities make the road network unattractive for pedestrians and cyclists.
The proposed greenway will seek to connect with the existing Carlingford Lough Greenway, facilitating a continuous cross-border greenway from Dundalk in Co. Louth to Newry in County Down. The proposed greenway provides the local population and tourists to the area an attractive recreational facility as well as a potential active travel alternative for routine trips.
Project Objectives
Investment in walking and cycling is a key policy objective of the Government. The National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-2030 recognises the importance of active travel not only in reducing carbon emissions, but also in achieving other national strategic outcomes such as compact urban growth and balanced regional development. Other national policy, such as the Climate Action Plan, the Strategy for the Future Development of National and Regional Greenways, and the National Physical Activity Plan highlight the multi-faceted benefits provided by active travel investment, including carbon emission reductions, physical and mental health benefits, tourism and improvements to accessibility and social inclusion.
The objectives for the proposed greenway have been developed in accordance with the seven appraisal headings identified in the Department of Transport’s “Transport Appraisal Framework (TAF) (June 2023)”:
Transport User Benefits and Other Economic Impacts
Accessibility Impacts
Social Impacts
Land Use Impacts
Safety Impacts
Climate Change Impacts
Local Environmental Impacts
What’s Happening Now?
The publication of the Options Report and Preferred Route Corridor marks the end of Phase 2 - Option Selection.
The Project has been approved by TII to progress to the next stage of the project, which is Phase 3 – Design and Environmental Evaluation.
As work on Phase 3 commences, the team will develop the initial alignment of the greenway within the Preferred Route Corridor while consulting with individual landowners along the project to refine the design to minimise the impacts on people, property, farming operations and the receiving environment.
As part of the design development, in the coming months, the project team will be contacting landowners seeking permission to access lands to undertake surveys. These surveys may include a walk-over surveys of the land, drone LiDAR surveys, monitoring surveys or works within the land. The surveys include:
Environmental Walk-over Survey
Topographical Surveys
Landscape and Visual surveys
Archaeological Surveys
Noise Surveys
Ground Investigations
