The closing stages of a £1.5 million contract to complete the Newtownabbey Way footpath later this year has been marked.

The environmental construction project will finish later in 2010 and will run from Loughshore to Corr's Corner.

This month, dozens of walkers and cyclists of all ages gathered in Monkstown for the official opening of Phase III of the Newtownabbey Way.

Mayor John Scott was joined by community representatives from Monkstown and Whiteabbey and local schoolchildren as he cut the ribbon on the newest section of the route from Bleachgreen Viaducts to Monkstown Wood.

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This latest phase of the Newtownabbey Way project was a joint initiative between Newtownabbey Borough Council, the UK's leading sustainable transport charity, Sustrans and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

Already Phases I and II of the walking and cycling route - along the shore of Belfast Lough and through Glen Park in Whiteabbey - are enjoyed regularly by thousands of residents and visitors.

The complete contract will see an uninterrupted pathway free of traffic from the shores of Belfast Lough all the way to the main Larne Road outside Glengormley.

(BMcC/GK)