New Forest: Common Connections between Burley and Sway
The New Forest offers a variety of excellent walking and cycling routes for pedestrians and cyclists, however many are separated to eachother and longer trips are far more difficult to make because currently major, busy roads sever the journeys between them.
This project will improve an existing bridge under the main road beside Holmsley Tea Rooms to create a new, direct and eagerly anticipated route which will make it possible to walk and cycle from Christchurch straight into the centre of the forest.
People will be able to explore the forest without having to use a car and it will be possible to travel further afield and avoid heavy traffic on the busy A35 main road to Christchurch and Bournemouth. An additional useful route will also be created between Burley village and Sway railway station.
This scheme will form part of existing National Cycle Network Route 2 through the New Forest and will link up two unreachable sections of the former Castleman's Corkscrew, the old railway line between Brockenhurst and Poole. Hampshire County Council is planning to replace the A35 bridge at Holmsley and the new bridge will accommodate a shared path underneath, thereby safely crossing the A35.
New pathways will also be built to link this bridge with existing forest tracks, and a strongly protected landscape and all works have been sensitively designed to complement the unique character of the New Forest and conserve its stunning natural beauty.
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