Greenway or the highway?

I’ve just spent 2 days walking the Waterford Greenway. This links Waterford and Dungarvan and is about 46 km long. When rail services closed in 1982, Irish Rail allowed the line deteriorate rather than develop alternative traffic on it. As a consequence it became an eyesore.

A number of years ago Waterford County Council  The route has been preserved and brings walkers and cyclists on a meandering route through rural Waterford as you snake you way to Waterford.

decided to get their hands on the line so as to develop it as a piece of tourist infrastructure. I’ve got to admit that they’re on a winner.

So this week end  just gone we stretched our legs on 2 sections, one close to Dugarvan and another near Kilmacthomas.  So here’s the low down. The project connects 2 large population centres with critical mass to sustain the route. There was no end of bikes and walkers in the vicinity of Dungarvan or Ballyvoile where motorists can park. Elsewhere along the route at Kilmacthomas it was quieter. Many people, especially with

children seem to use the route for a mile or two close to where you can park the car. Accessibility to the route is key. The attractive countryside is a huge plus. The tunnel at Ballyvoile is a magnet for kids, decked out as it is Halloween with all sorts of things that go bump in the night.

However it needs better management to separate pedestrians from cyclists in the tunnel where cyclists dismount and after a few yards often remount and off they go. The tunnel had over 100 people inside it, many with young kids attracted in by spooky Halloween images.  In the dark it can be more than scary with the risk of you going bump in the night off a bike.  Build and they will come but manage and they’ll come back

We stopped off after walking 9km for a cuppa at Durrow in a bar that was doing a roaring trade. The owner tells me that their customers come from everywhere you can think off. His bar has morphed into a cafe, bicycle hire business as well as providing a wee stop for the small ones. The car park was overflowing on the bright Autumnal morning that we were there.

As we rambled back towards town we met up with teenagers doing their Gaisce award. As I stopped to turn to look at a field filled with rare curlew a cyclist shot by at about 15MPH missing me by a foot at best. Cyclists on this greenway can put some pedestrians at risk.  The greenway is a strip of tarmac about 2 meters wide and no more. The mix of different types of users can at busy times be a bit off putting.

Are there lessons for Wexford? The county council proposes to build a greenway beside the Rosslare Waterford line. I’m not so sure that the line is as scenic neither is the critical mass and tourist or attractions and infrastructure of accommodation and pubs along the route. It is not just a case of build the greenway and people arrive. The bar I mentioned earlier had put in place railing to stop kids running out on the road and spent on the public area to facilitate customers. Unless tourists can rely that their expectations can be met, they won’t come. Moreover the most attractive part of the route which runs along the Suir estuary will be retained as a railway to Wateford Port.

 Will walkers and cyclists accept the loss of that amenity? The Barrow Bridge will pose management issues as it remains a working bridge which swings open to allow shipping move up to New Ross.

Any decision to upgrade Rosslare to Tier 1port will require consideration of access for rail and that possibility exists.  Any such decision would exclude under railway safety the sharing of the line with cyclists or pedestrians. Before a bob is invested it would be worth prioritising how we visualise Rosslare into the future.

What works in Waterford may not work in Wexford, How many cyclists would turn up on a windy day in November to cycle from Duncormick to Ballycullane? That remains to be seen.