A WALK ALONG THE ROYAL CANAL WAY FROM BROOMBRIDGE TO ASHTOWN
Work began on the construction of the 146 km long Royal Canal, to connect Ireland’s capital city, Dublin, with the upper River Shannon in 1790, and the canal was completed in 1817. It operated in competition with the Grand Canal which ran an almost parallel route never more than 30 km to the south, and with the Grand, was made redundant by the advent of the railways in the mid-19th century.
The Royal Canal was officially closed to all navigation in 1961, but like the Grand Canal, much of the Royal has been restored in recent decades.
The Royal Canal Way is a 144-kilometre (89-mile) long-distance trail that follows the towpath of the canal from Ashtown, Dublin to Cloondara, County Longford. It is typically completed in three days. It is designated as a National Waymarked Trail by the National Trails Office of the Irish Sports Council and is managed by Waterways Ireland.
In 2015, Dublin City Council began extending the walking and cycling route along the Royal Canal from Ashtown to Sheriff Street Upper. The Royal Canal Way connects with the Westmeath Way west of Mullingar, and will eventually form the eastern end of the Dublin-Galway Greenway, the final part of EuroVelo Route 2, a cycling path from Moscow across Europe to Galway.
The Royal Canal Greenway is the greenway encompassing the Royal Canal Way between Maynooth and Cloondara, with a branch to Longford. It was launched in March 2021.
ROYAL CANAL GREENWAY NORTH STRAND ROAD TO SHERIFF STREET
This section is 750 metres long and links North Strand with the docklands, where it connects with the existing cycle route running along Guild Street.
The Royal Canal Phase 2 Viaduct is a critical piece of infrastructure within the Royal Canal Greenway scheme as it enables pedestrians and cyclists to travel from the North Strand Road through to the Seville Place junction unobstructed.
At the western end of the scheme, the North Strand Road side, the viaduct links to the recently installed Newcomen Footbridge, which spans over the Docklands Railway Line and the Royal Canal and serves as a pedestrian bridge running parallel to the existing Newcomen Road Bridge.
The viaduct takes pedestrians and cyclists over the Newcomen railway line coming out of Connolly Station and onto a newly constructed, landscaped, winding approach ramp. From here, pedestrians and cyclists are taken under the main northern line railway bridges and along approximately 500m of newly refurbished bank of the Royal Canal to the Seville Place junction.
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