The new bridge across the River Shannon will come into its own when it forms the mid-point of the Dublin to Galway greenway.
That's according to Senior Executive Engineer Michael Kelly who says the opening of the bridge will obviously bring a lot of benefits locally in terms of active travel and safer travel for anyone cycling in the town.
He says though that the bridge will eventually form the midway point on the planned 270 kilometre greenway between Dublin and Galway city and will have thousands using the crossing point each year.
Work is presently continuing on studies to take the route from Athlone down through parts of Roscommon and into Galway.
The bridge will open to the public on the 8th of August this year and the engineer says it'll bring immediate and longer term benefits.
"It'll promote active travel within Athlone and it'll be good for the school children, students, residents, and employees. There's a seperate project ongoing that's at phase 3 planning, design, and environmental evaluation and we hope to make a planning application to An Bord Pleanála in early 2025 but that's a huge project in itself, another 200km going from the castle to get us to Galway. That's when the bridge will come into its own I believe when we get that linkage. It's is the midpoint and the overall vision is to have a coast to coast greenway from Dublin to Galway".
