Cycle and walking route approved for Laois

Approval for a new walking and cycling track linking The People’s Park in Portlaoise with Green Mill Lane has been warmly welcomed. 

Laois County Council approved “the construction of a shared, pedestrian and cycle route from The People's Park to Green Mill Lane [Triogue Way], Portlaoise” at the March monthly council meeting. 

Fine Gael Cllr Willie Aird thanked the council staff for all the work they had done on the project. 

“Any day we get a grant of €750,000, an awful lot of work goes into that,” he said.

“We are going to be able to go the whole way from the new link road right across and link up with Green Mill Lane, eventually when it is all done. It will be a safe way for people to go for a cycle and walk,” said Cllr Aird. 

Fianna Fail Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald thanked everyone involved with the project and described the plan as great news for Portlaoise. She said the work would enable a lot of children to safely walk and cycle to school and would take cars off the roads. 

Fine Gael Cllr Thomasina Connell said “we have to change our culture” and think more about leaving the car at home. 

“Over the past two years we had the cycle bus in Portlaoise which was parents bringing kids to school on their bikes and that worked really, really well,” she said. 

She said children in the Mountmellick Road area will be able to take their bicycles on the Green Mill Lane and come up through the Linear Park across the town down to the People’s Park to get to school. 

“Repeatedly the community say it is not safe to send a child to school on a bicycle. I think this is going to be fantastic, particularly for that purpose,” she added. 

Sinn Fein Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley congratulated all involved with the project. However, she raised concerns about road safety on the Mountmellick Road. 

“It is the forgotten road and to be honest with you, you would be taking your life into your hands trying to cycle on the Mountmellick Road,” she said. 

Fine Gael Cllr Barry Walsh also welcomed the approval of the new route and he said more infrastructure like this was needed to reduce car use. 

Independent Cllr Aisling Moran said there was more to Laois than Portlaoise and cycling and walking infrastructure was needed in other Laois towns and villages.