A BIG thumbs-up was this week given to the splendid new £600,000 subway outside Tavistock Primary School.
The underpass, officially opened on Wednesday, will provide a safer crossing for children and students at the primary school and Tavistock College ? they previously crossed the busy A386 using a puffin crossing.
Joe Flynn, headteacher at Tavistock Primary , joined the enthusiastic crowd at the opening ceremony.
He said: ?We are absolutely delighted ? this is something the college and I have wanted for years.
?It will be safer for the children and help us encourage healthier ways of getting to school.?
Mr Flynn said the underpass was due to be decorated with artwork created by children from the primary school and college.
?We hope this will encourage a sense of ownership of the subway,? he said.
Mr Flynn said bicycle passes were due to be given to children after half-term, enabling them to cycle to school and use the new bike sheds which had been installed at the school and college.
John Simes, Tavistock College principal, said: ?I think it?s marvellous. We hope it will reduce traffic flow inside the college, we hope to be able to limit car access into the site now.
?It should improve the health and well-being of students and staff ? I really think it?s a major step forward.?
Cllr Norma Woodcock, deputy mayor of Tavistock, said: ?It?s been an aspiration of the people of Tavistock to either go over or under this road safely for the past 40 years.
?This is a splendid achievement and the town council is proud to have been able to dedicate part of the Meadows to enable it to be so wonderfully achieved.?
And Cllr Woodcock paid tribute to the late Peter Donkin, the member of the town council who was a driving force behind the subway scheme ? one of the commemorative plaques at the site is dedicated to his work.
Tavistock?s county councillor Roy Connelly said: ?I don?t think anyone cannot fail to see the benefit of this scheme to the people of Tavistock and to visitors. It?s attractive, it?s easy to negotiate ? you see from end to end ? it?s great.?
School crossing patrol Stuart Tremaine gave the subway the thumbs-up: ?It should make traffic flow better ? and make my job easier!?
The subway is an important new link in the Devon coast to coast route of the national cycle network, part of a 2.3km off-road route which will ultimately pass through Tavistock town centre towards Whitchurch.
Graham Cornish, cycle project officer, said the new path would continue along the canal, cross the river at Crowndale and link with Whitchurch via Bishopsmead and the industrial estate.
Mr Cornish said: ?Negotiations are going well ? the subway really releases the potential for this route.
?It seems to have enormous support ? people are genuinely excited about it,? he said.
Work on the subway began at the end of last September and was carried out in two stages. Contractors were able to divert traffic to the part not being worked on, thus keeping disruption to motorists and pedestrians to a minimum.
One of the biggest challenges faced by the county?s engineers was the jungle of cables and pipes buried under the road, which forced construction of the subway deeper than necessary.
Work included exposing the cables and pipes and supporting them on steel beams, so the space underneath could be excavated from the side.
The official opening ceremony was performed by the chairman of Devon County Council, Cllr Mary Strudwick.
She hoped the underpass would encourage parents to allow their children to walk or cycle to school: ?If we can achieve a switch to cycling, drivers should notice a positive effect on traffic flow in and around town and children should be safer and healthier.?