Repairs to storm-damaged Tipperary bridge to begin in February
A wall near a Tipperary bridge that collapsed during Storm Claudia in November is due to be repaired in the coming weeks.
During the storm, a wall near Toberaheena Well on the Marlfield Road in Clonmel fell away, taking a section of the road with it.
Crews from Tipperary County Council were on the scene after the collapse, and put diversions in place to keep road users safe until the road is repaired.
At the January meeting of the Clonmel Borough District, Fianna Fáil councillor Siobhán Ambrose said that a contractor had been appointed to repair the bridge, and that works will be getting started soon.
"I just want to welcome the fact that a contractor has been approved to repair that wall, and that they’re going to start in the middle of February, and they’ll finish in the middle of March,” Cllr Ambrose said.
"As we know, at the Marlfield Road at the moment, there are diversions and loads of people have been asking when the works to repair the wall will start, so it’s good to see a start be made on that,” she added.
At a previous meeting of the Clonmel Borough District, councillors were told that it could cost over €100,000 to repair the old bridge.
“The financial implications of it will likely be significant,” members of the council’s engineering staff said.
"A similar issue in the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel district took €140,000 to remediate, we obviously don’t have those type of financial resources internally so we have to get something from the Department and we’ve made contact in relation to that,” they added.
At the January meeting, the district’s engineer said that the council will look at carrying out some resurfacing on the road where cars had been diverted, as the road surface was in poor repair due to the volumes of traffic.
"When we were out on site there, I saw that where there’s extra traffic turning down Glenleigh Court, that road will need a bit of TLC once the bridge works are done,” he said.
"It’s just not designed for the sort of traffic that it’s taking at the moment,” the district engineer added.
The road is expected to re-open to traffic as normal by mid-March, bringing an end to several months of diversions for local residents and road users.