Two Tunnels Greenway

A new link path for Bath and North East Somerset

Route construction news

The Two Tunnels route will use an old rail trackbed to burrow beneath Combe Down - the high ground south of the city - creating an almost level and direct route between the city centre of Bath and the Sustrans path NCN 24, 2½ miles south of the city - a gateway to an emerging wider network of routes.

The route has impressive local and national support. As its campaign group, we're delighted at the range of both individuals and organisations backing the timely construction of this route - the following being evidence for this:

• Commitment from the partner organisations (Sustrans and B&NES) who have together formed a steering group which meets monthly to plan for the building of the route.
• Wide support for the planning application for the core of the route, now granted. A support group for the Two Tunnels route has built almost 500 members, over 650 signatures of support were collected at Green Park Station in a single weekend event in spring 2005.
• Support from organisations such as Wessex Water, the owners of Combe Down Tunnel.
• Regular press coverage of the route in the papers.
• Over £1,500,000 funding from various sources including lottery funding (£1,000,000), B&NES (£100,000 pa for 4 years, subject to the usual budgetary stuff in that the local authority will need to reconfirm the figure year on year) Rail Heritage funding (£40,000), private donations (£50,000), Section 106 agreements (tba) - and more.
• The route is included as a flagship project for the successul Sustrans Connect2 lottery bid  which attracted nearly 120,000 votes  in December 2007.
• Chosen as the recipient for fundraising from the well supported and popular 'King Bladud's Pigs ' public art project for Bath, which has already raised over £75,000 of funding for the artworks themselves. A decorative 'King Bladud's pig' displayed at Bath's flower show in early May attracted over 900 signatures from members of the public.

We're at an interesting stage to say the least - and you can help in several ways - perhaps with funding, perhaps by joining our support group, more details below. Or, if you'd like a guided tour, join one of our route rides.

More Funding: How You Can Help

With construction underway, both organisations and individuals can contribute to the success of the 'Two Tunnels Greenway'. We expect to see substantial progress with the route's building during 2008. Now we need help from individuals and organisations to close the project's funding gap of around £300,000.

If you or your organisation can sponsor one of our 'Big ticket' structures, you've the opportunity to give the city of Bath a present that will be of long term value - helping secure the route and giving its history proper recognition in the 21st century. You'll be giving a unique resource to Bath's residents and visitors - space to exercise, walk with friends and family, enjoy the city from a new angle, space to think. If you can help, please get in touch.

Dartmouth Avenue Bridge

High level crossing for the Two Tunnels route across a minor road in Oldfield Park - estimated at £150,000.

Monksdale Road Bridge

A second high level crossing of another road - also estimated at £150,000.

Tunnel Lighting

An innovative lighting scheme for this iconic structure, low energy and respectful of the need to make the tunnel environment wildlife friendly and enhance travellers appreciation of its history. Estimated at £300,000.

Tucking Mill Viaduct Repairs

This is a brick and masonry structure which will benefit from work to extend its life - there's a relationship between the amount invested and the life of the structure - if you'd like to fund this option, we can do the work to identify the costs ...

Hang on. That lot adds up to more than £300,000!

Indeed. We're aiming to raise more now, to give the old line's structures the best possible future.

Sign up and join over 400 supporters -
at our 'Yahoogroup' mailing list.

Become a Sustrans  supporter.

Watch a two minute TV clip courtesy of ITV West  (9 megabytes - select the link and be prepared to wait while it downloads)

If you're on 'Facebook', join the Two Tunnels Facebook group . We need supporters from schools, colleges, athletics groups and the local universities - major users of the proposed path but under-represented on our own support group. Now that you've discovered this project, spread the word and help it to happen.

Look at it this way

If this line had been opened fifty years earlier, we'd value it as part of Georgian Bath.

Instead, its structures are 'Blue-brick patchwork Victorian'. Unglamorous, the line carried millions of people to holidays on the south coast, carried the beer from Burton to Dorset, carried the coal that gave Bath the grimy black and silver appearance that many people will recall from the days before its buildings were cleaned.

It's as much a part of Bath's history as Pulteney Bridge, and as a national rail link, it was the stuff of legend, which makes its local neglect all the more unfortunate.

Who is this for though?

• People on bikes, both local and long distance
• People who need space for exercise, but can't manage stiles and narrow muddy paths
• People who exercise by running. A circuit via the complete Two Tunnels shared path and then back via NCN 24 and 4 is a half marathon in length ...
• People looking for space to enjoy easy walking in groups.
• People on horses - some sections of this path will add valuable routes for people on horseback
• Children love the thrill of tunnels.
• Elderly people appreciate paths of this nature
• People with pushchairs and children.
• People the world over who look to conserve the route of the line

Timescale

With permissions and legal aspects in place,
it's hoped that path construction may take 2 years.

Finances

Grants are available for this type of path, bringing money into the local economy, turning liabilities into assets. Two of the three viaducts in particular need maintenance or demolition. Both approaches represent expenses, but these structures are assets: it's better to seek grant money that enables their reuse rather than eventual demolition through neglect.

If anything, the major obstacle is a perception that this is all too expensive. A previous bid for funding costed this project to the tune of around £8 million in 1996, something that's now cited as a reason not to proceed. However, a quality path can be built for a small fraction of that sum, which, among other factors, costed the existing rail tunnel as a new excavation!

Consider Midford Viaduct, now reused by NCN24, courtesy of a £163,000 grant from the Department for Transport, or the recent restoration of Midford aqueduct, at a cost of £850,000. The 'Two Tunnels' route will still cost rather more than both of these put together, but it is achievable, desirable and, given the benefits, not unaffordable. If you'd use this resource and you've got this far, do something today to help this happen.

Support

Join our support group, it's free, and there's more information as to why this will help here.

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