The Great Western Greenway () is a greenway rail trail in County Mayo,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is long and begins in Westport and ends in

Achill Achill Island (; ga, Acaill, Oileán Acla) in County Mayo is the largest of the Irish isles, and is situated off the west coast of Ireland. It has a population of 2,594. Its area is . Achill is attached to the mainland by Michael Davitt Brid ...

, passing through the towns of Newport and Mulranny as it runs along the coast of

Clew Bay Clew Bay (; ga, Cuan Mó) is a natural ocean bay in County Mayo, Republic of Ireland. It contains Ireland's best example of sunken drumlins. The bay is overlooked by Croagh Patrick to the south and the Nephin Range mountains of North Mayo. Cla ...

. It is an off-road trail intended for use by cyclists and walkers. It follows the route of the former Achill extension of the Westport railway line, which was constructed in the 1890s and closed in 1937. An estimated 300 people cycle and walk the trail each day, which was constructed at a cost of €5.7 million. The first section, from Newport to Mulranny, was opened in April 2010. It was named as the 2011 Irish winner of the

European Destinations of Excellence European Destinations of ExcelleNce, also known by the acronym EDEN, is an initiative launched by the European Commission promoting sustainable tourism development models across Europe. The project is based on national competitions which take plac ...

award. The full route was opened by

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from ...

, T. D. and

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In ...

for Tourism and Sport,

Michael Ring Michael Ring (born 24 December 1953) is an Irish Fine Gael politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Mayo constituency since 1997, and previously from 1994 to 1997 for the Mayo West constituency. He served as Minister for Rural and ...

, T. D., on 29 July 2011. According to a 2013 study, the Great Western Greenway had an average of 471 cycle trips per day, or 172,000 users in total per annum. It brings approximately €405,000 from non-domestic tourists and €737,000 from domestic tourists annually, giving the facility a payback period of 6 years from its initial construction. After reconstruction of part of the N59 at Kilbride, and completed in September 2013, a section of the greenway that originally shared space on the road with cars and other traffic, is now safely segregated. However, there remains a section through Newport town where greenway users share road space with other traffic.

References

External links

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Video - Tracks and Trails: Great Western Greenway (via YouTube)
{{Coord missing, County Mayo Geography of County Mayo Tourist attractions in County Mayo Rail trails in the Republic of Ireland Irish Greenways

See also

References

External links