Good practice:

Camino del Río Tinto

The aim of this practice is to transform the Río Tinto Natural Pathway into a cyclable route of 102 km. The route will run through a unique landscape, alongside the river and crossing 14 municipalities, from the source of the river in "La Peña del Hierro" to the remarkable endpoint "Muelle de la Rio Tinto Company Limited".

The first 5.5 km part of the route was recently completed with an investment of close to 400,000 euros provided by County Council of Huelva. The works were planned in 3 stages, comprising railway dismantling, ground improvement, the restoration of two bridges, signposting and ancillary items to provide useful safety and tourist information for bike users.

There are available funds for 400,000 euros plus a preliminary agreement of additional 1.300.000 euros, to keep works and technical consultancies in progress during 2019-2020. Conversations are ongoing with different public bodies such as the Regional Ministry of Andalusia or the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food through the Natural Trails Programme (Programa Caminos Naturales), looking for possible funding for the rest of the route infrastructure. Besides the entities above mentioned there have been stakeholders involved as Fundación Río Tinto which aims to preserve and restore historical and natural heritage linked to mining, and Ferrocarriles Españoles, which works to convert disused railway lines into cycling routes through the Vias Verdes Programme (Greenways Programme)

It is foreseen estimated funding of €10m. The complexity of the route requires an in-depth technical analysis as the layout runs in parallel to a railroad track demanding additional costly infrastructure. Maintenance will lay on County Council through technical departments and their staff.

The process started in 2018-2019 with a 5.5 km long recovering pilot project funded by a 400,000 euros investment from Diputación de Huelva. A technical project to recover part of the line with an estimated reference budget of €10m is under evaluation, involving costly bridges or tunnel restorations and heritage facilities remaining alongside the track.

The technical challenge is strongly connected with funding difficulties, forcing the project to open to public bodies at different levels. The uniqueness of the landscape, related to the abandoned mining industry, is an added value for tourism and aid in the area's recovery after degradation.

The relevance of heritage items potentially affected by such an activity close to the railway has to be an aggregated intervention and may require above-average levels of funding. It involves diverse public bodies in an itinerary to ensure successful development, supported by a provincial bicycle plan (under development). This is an excellent example of an intervention in degraded areas due to the mining activity which took place through centuries and that today, after their disappearance, suffers depopulation and underemployment despite the rich historical heritage linked to those heavy industry activities. This practice can be exported to extensive areas all over Europe with similar conditions because of the decay of mining industry and therefore could be inspiring for public authorities to design and develop specific funding tools for cycling in natural degraded or rural deprived areas, involving from the local to the national level and supported by the corresponding planning.