New € 500,000 40km cycle lane project officially launches
SLIGO County Council launched Urban Cycle Sligo at City hall as part of the active travel town initiative.
The launch was held last Thursday the 15th of September as part of mobility week and saw the opening of several new bicycle lanes around Sligo Town. Close to half a million euro has been spent on the plan where more than 40 km of bicycle lanes stretch across Sligo’s stunning backdrop bringing you into the city centre and surrounding communities. Bicycle routes leading to and from town include those from Carraroe, Cleveragh, Strandhill, Finisklin, IT Sligo and Rosses Point. The main focus of the launch was the importance of smarter travel awareness in particular towards cycling. People are beginning encouraged to think about better ways to get to the work place, school and college. Speaking at the launch was Mayor Marie Casserly who urged people to embrace the new initiative and to take at least one day a week to cycle to work. She said: “We should help promote at a national and local level this important initiative. It will have an impact on the local economy as well as help the carbon foot print.” Senior Executive Engineer of roads John O’Flaherty also warned people to ‘ wait before the projects finish before you make a judgement’.
He said: “There was a lot of difficult construction but the goal is from getting links from outside of town, it is a big undertaking.”
Sligo is one of 15 towns that has been designated as a travel town. Sligo’s 5- Year Walking and Cycling Strategy was developed in early 2012.