Frustration as only €88,000 in funding allocated for Tipperary’s worst roads
An allocation of funding for red roads in Tipperary simply isn’t enough, according to one local representative.
Red roads refer to roads with the worst classification under the Pavement Surface Condition Index (PSCI).
At the May meeting of the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District, independent councillor Máirín McGrath expressed her frustration at the funding allotted to address the condition of red roads across the county.
This year, the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel district was allocated €88,000 to fix these roads, an amount that Cllr McGrath says isn’t enough.
“The allocation is very small for such a big district,” she said.
“It was something that we brought in a couple of years ago and it was lauded as it was going to be a great thing for our rural roads, and it’s disappointing that it’s only €88,000.
“It’s frustrating because we have a lot of roads, particularly rural ones, and I know that we spoke about doing Priesttown outside Newcastle, because that road is in such dire condition, but we don’t have the money to cover it,” she added.
While road repairs were a major concern, Cllr McGrath also questioned the adequacy of funding for bridge rehabilitation projects across the district.
“In relation to the bridge rehab works, and we’ve spoken at length about two bridges in Killnacarriga in Newcastle and in Rehill where those two bridges have issues. The allocation we get every year is very low,” Cllr McGrath added.
“I’m conscious that we’re applying for emergency funding to do bridge rehab works, at Killnacarriga and at Rehill, will this go against next year’s allocation? It’s evident that we have a lot of structural issues with some of our bridges that are being overlooked by the Department,” she said.
In response, district engineer James Swords said that works to fix both bridges is progressing well.
“Newcastle bridge, the design and all is complete, and we’ve gone out to tender. We have a preliminary budget of €20,000 to do the design and the surveys and to stabilise the bridge temporarily so once the tender figures come back, we’ll be applying to the Department to get funding for it,” he said.
“On Rehill bridge then, we have tender documents nearly complete for that and we will work with local representatives to get a temporary measure to maybe get the bridge operational in the shorter term,” Mr Swords explained.
“By the end of the summer I would hope that they’d both be done,” he added.