WORK on a £4million walking and cycling route predicted to bring huge economic benefits to Tavistock and the surrounding area is reaching an exciting stage, according to Devon?s cycle projects officer, Graham Cornish. Work on the track, part of the national Route 27 between the north and south coasts of Devon, is very much focussed on the Tavistock area at present. Mr Cornish said: ?We are now building from the swingbridge at Monksmead around the back of Tavistock College to Crowndale Road and we are doing the first phase of the scheme from Safeway. ?Ultimately, that bit will go from Brook Lane, through the industrial estate and Safeway and along the road to a toucan crossing by McDonald?s.? Mr Cornish said the section under construction in the school was using ?road planings? taken from the A386 at Lake, which was recently re-surfaced. ?We can make a very good surface out of these planings ? it?s recycling stuff which would otherwise be wasted. We do it as a matter of course when we have a supply of planings and of course, it saves more quarrying,? he said. Pending negotiations, a new ?second-hand? bridge will cross the River Tavy in the Crowndale area to connect the sections of track. The next exciting phase of the scheme concerns the old railway track between Whitchurch and Horrabridge. ?We are just about to put in a planning application regarding this section. We?ve got agreement for around 70% of the stretch from Anderton Lane to the old station at Horrabridge. This is the bit to include the £1-million new bridge over the River Walkham,? said Mr Cornish. The new bridge will be called the Gem Bridge. after the mine which was situated nearby. This section of the cycle track will use the tunnel that runs underneath the A386 at Grenofen. It is hoped to create a link from the old railway route up to the Halfway House, which will enable people living at Grenofen to use an off-road route into Tavistock ? and enable cyclists to access the village ? plus the pub. Mr Cornish said a planning application would soon be submitted regarding a scheme to link the Old Exeter Road at Wilminstone with the Peter Tavy road, using the old railway track ? enabling cyclists to access Dartmoor at Peter Tavy without using the A386 at all. And in July, work will start at the Bickleigh Gap, so cyclists can avoid having to toil up a one in four hill. ?It?s going to make a major difference to the Plym Valley part of the track,? said Mr Cornish. ?Eventually, we are going to have an off-road path from Tavistock town centre to Plymouth, with only a few small gaps. ?It?s going to pull money and visitors out from Plymouth and get them spending it in Tavistock and the hamlets and villages along the route ? certainly places like the Halfway House and Peter Tavy will benefit ? we really are making some progress now. ?Virtually all the route is agreed, though we are still awaiting further negotiations on the remaining sections.? The cycle route is being funded by money from Europe, the Regional Development Agency and Devon County Council.