The Mondego cycle path will be extended by 4 km near Figueira da Foz.

The Mondego Cycle Path will be extended by 4 km near Figueira da Foz.
 
The Mondego Cycle Path, a project that has been in the works for over 10 years and aims to connect Coimbra to Figueira da Foz, gained another four kilometers today with the awarding of a contract for work that will allow cyclists to leave the latter city.

“It extends the existing cycle path to the parish of Vila Verde,” said Mayor João Ataíde at the contract award ceremony, referring to the cycle path that will connect the railway station to the town of Vila Verde, next to the Mondego River.

The project awarded today has an estimated cost of €599,000 and a completion deadline of around 10 months, the mayor said.

The cycle path already has a completed section of around 500 meters in Figueira da Foz between the town hall and the railway station, built on the basis of a preliminary study of the Mondego Cycle Path, an idea by architect Miguel Figueira, developed to create a cycle path to Coimbra through the fields of Baixo Mondego.

In the municipality of Montemor-o-Velho, next to the local nautical center, there is another section of the project, on the bank of the old riverbed, between one of the ends of the rowing track there and the village of Casal Novo do Rio, taken on by the local authority.

The project includes a 2.6-meter-wide bicycle path along the river, five bridges covered with wooden panels, 18 connections to railway stations and stops, and rest areas along the route.