Devon County Council gave the green light this week to proceed with the £7-million scheme which will take the national cycle network from its borders in West Somerset through to Torbay.
The aim of the programme, which will create one of the longest off-road paths in the UK, is to confirm Devon?s position as one of the best places to cycle in the country, bringing considerable economic benefit to the area.
At the centre of the four-year project is a dramatic new 160-metre bridge across the Walkham Valley forming part of an off-road path between Tavistock, Yelverton and Plymouth. This section will also include the use of the Grenofen Tunnel and the Magpie Viaduct.
Demolished in the 1960s following the closure of the railway line during the Beeching era, the old bridge across the Walkham Valley is now a big pile of rubble, giving a sad reminder of times gone by.
Manager of the project Graham Cornish said the old bridge was a substantial piece of architecture ? twice as big as Meldon Viaduct near Okehampton ? and the new one would also be pretty spectacular.
?This will be a landmark bridge and the single biggest project on the cycle network in Devon,? he said.
?The Walkham Valley is lovely and a lot of people go there by car because it is not accessible any other way at the moment. In the future people will be able to walk or cycle there.?
He said the road from Tavistock to Plymouth was a traffic bottleneck and the scheme would give people the option of cycling to work completely off-road.
?The chances are that it will be quicker to cycle to work than to drive, especially from places like Yelverton,? he added. ?This will be a great bonus to local people but the route will also have huge tourism and recreational benefits.
Devon County Council is calling the project, which will begin imminently, the ?Path to Prosperity?, and it will run from the steam railway station at Minehead through to Ilfracombe, following the Devon Coast to Coast route and extending through the South Hams to Torbay.
A naming competition is expected to be held for the Tavistock section of the route which begins at Buckland Monachorum and goes through Tavistock and Clearbrook onto Plymouth. Drake?s Way is one of the names already suggested.
The National Cycle Network in Devon is being developed by the county council working with Sustrans and other local authorities and organisations.
Funding has been secured following successful bids to the South West Regional Development Agency and the European Union Objective 2 funding.
Devon County Council member for Tavistock Rural Roy Connelly said it was great news that the cycleway was being extended and even better that the main section would be at Tavistock.
?Tavistock has done exceptionally well as far as the introduction of the network is concerned and the extensive work due to be undertaken follows on from the underpass and other schemes in the Tavistock area,? he said.
?I think it is a tremendous initiative and as well as giving an alternative means of transport it will encourage more tourists to the area.?