Dungarvan’s 7.2 Million Euro Smarter Travel Boost

Wednesday, 8th February 2012

Mayor of Dungarvan, Labour’s Teresa Wright, is giving a warm welcome to the news that Dungarvan has been chosen as a 'Smarter Travel Town’, meaning it will receive over 7.2 million euro over the next 5 years.

"I’d like to congratulate the executive of the Council, the Town Engineer, Tom Rogers, and all those who were involved in the Dungarvan bid for the Smarter Travel Status," said Mayor Wright.

"I was very pleased to receive the news from my colleagues, Ciara Conway and Minister Alan Kelly, this week. Almost 40 towns and cities across Ireland were in the running for this funding and designation- and Dungarvan is one of only three that were successful. We should be very proud of this.

The whole point of the Smarter Travel Areas is to help people to leave their cars at home and to encourage them instead to walk, cycle or use other more sustainable forms of transport, where possible.

The programme will provide funding for a 5-year period for improvements to sustainable travel infrastructure, as well as for awareness and behavioural change initiatives, to encourage people to change their travel behaviour.

I’ve examined the maps and plans, and key locations around Dungarvan and Abbeyside are pinpointed in terms of how long it will take to get from one area to another by bicycle or by foot.

This will be facilitated with the building footpaths and cycle paths.

As well as encouraging us all to be more healthy, we will also be a more appealing location for tourists- who knows, perhaps Abbeyside will be comparable to Amsterdam in terms of the number of cyclists in the next few years! This news will certainly give us a unique selling point in terms of tourism," concluded Teresa Wright.