The projects, to be carried out across regional cities in Ireland, are aimed at encouraging people to use cars less and make more environmentally sustainable travel choices.

An additional €5 million will be spent on labour intensive sustainable travel projects such as road improvement works, pedestrian crossings cycle routes and more sophisticated traffic control systems.

Among the projects are a Euro 400,000 scheme for a new phase of Cork Cycle Network between Douglas and City Centre and Euro 150,000 for the improvement of existing cycle facilities in Limerick.

Traffic calming measures will be introduced in Waterford and a city-wide intelligent traffic control system in Galway.

Public Transport minister, Alan Kelly, said: “The last census showed that over 200,000 of us drive less than 4 kilometres to work.

“To incentivise people to not use their cars, we have to make walkways, cycle paths and the road network more user-friendly.

“This is part of our plan to re-balance the transport budget towards public transport. While we are in a very challenging period financially, it is important that we put what resources we do have into sustainable transport and making non-driving options more attractive.”

Alison Brown

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