Good practice:

Cycling route of the Apulian Aqueduct

The Aqueduct Cycle Route project was born in the mid-2000s following the project CY.RO.N.MED financed by Interreg ArchiMed 2000-2006. It is the first greenway in region Puglia, built on the service road that runs along the Main Canal of the Apulian Aqueduct, the underground pipeline which carries the water from the Sele and Cassano Irpino springs, for about 250 km up to the Monte Fellone terminal. At the moment, the first two lots from Contrada Figazzano (Locorotondo) to Pineta Ulmo (Ceglie Messapica) are open to the public for a total of 17 km. The call for tenders will be published shortly, by Apulian Aqueduct Spa, for the works of the 3rd lot of about 8 km up to Monte Fellone, already fully financed by the Region Puglia, while the 4th lot, from Monte Fellone to Grottaglie (Ta) for a further 10 km, is under construction with national co-financing for road safety. The works already carried out in lot A and B, and to be carried out in lot C, concern: the reconstruction of the road surface with stabilized granular mixture (pressed crushed stone) for its entire length; creation of special entrance gates alongside the service gates and the installation of tourist, directional and safety signs; the reinforcement of the balustrades to protect the canal bridges that are works of particular hydraulic significance; the reconstruction of the dry-stone walls; the installation of parapets along the embankments; the installation of St. Andrew's cross fences in hulled chestnut poles.

State funding for the feasibility design. € 3.6M (Locorotondo-Monte Fellone, regional budget) + € 0,5M for the section up to Grottaglie (state co-financing).
Individual accounts of the Puglia Region for interventions in the Itria Valley for about 33 km. State funding "Road safety" for the 4th lot.

It is the first cycle path in a natural environment built in Puglia. Many cycle-tourism services have been developed. LAG Valle d’Itria purchased a former roadhouse to make a tourist info centre. The success of the first two lots led to inclusion of the Ciclovia in the National System of Tourist Cycle routes with the 2016 Stability Law. There are no numerical data as bike counter will be installed in lot C, but the Aqueduct cycle route is widely used by locals and tourists on foot and by bike.

Intervention difficulties in an area subject to hydrogeological constraints; Difficulty in operating on the Main Canal, well protected by Law no.381/1904; Cyclists’ difficulty in accepting that service road, in the sections not yet transformed into a cycle path, is forbidden to unauthorized vehicle.

The opening of the 1st and 2nd lot of the Apulian Aqueduct Cycle route to cycle transit represented an epochal turning point in Puglia, as there is no similar infrastructure anywhere in Italy. The initiative that represented also a novelty for Apulian Aqueduct Spa and for the Puglia Region in terms of the design and construction of a cycle path away from motorized traffic and in a natural environment, has attracted great attention from the public, institutions and local and national press, amplifying the general interest in the potential of cycle and long-distance cycle routes of an interregional, national and trans-European character and the need for their modal integration with the local public transport system. The sections already built and open to cyclists, are located in the Itria Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On the cycle path the pavement is in stabilized granular mix for its entire length, without asphalt or other types of conglomerates. The cycle path is a greenway.