This article is from page 15 of the 2012-01-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 15 JPG
IT WAS mixed news for Clare this week when it came to the care of the county’s roads. While the budget allocated to Clare County Council for the care of its non-national roads was almost on a par with last year, the funding for the county’s national roads was significantly down.
The spending on the county’s main roads has dropped by more than € 1.9 million to just over € 3.5 million this year.
However, the council was breathing a sigh of relief yesterday, Monday, when its funding allocation for all non-national roads was announced.
Clare County Engineer Tom Tiernan explained that once the allocation for the Killaloe bypass is removed from the € 14.9 million allocated, it equates almost exactly to last year.
“Anything that has not gone down is good,” he said referring to the funding.
Meanwhile, one of the busiest roads into Ennis is a death trap for young mothers, according to one member of Clare County Council, but the council is hopeful the situation will be resolved very soon.
Cllr James Breen (Ind) described the Quin Road bridge as “deadly dangerous” and is frustrated that nothing has been done about it, despite plans being drawn up for a footbridge by Clare County Council more than two years ago.
“It is frightening on the day of a mart to see women trying to come over the bridge pushing a pram. It is deadly dangerous if a cattle lorry and car meet on that bridge,” he said.
The former TD said he raised this issue as far back as 2006 when he was in the Dáil and still it has not come to a satisfactory conclusion.
It has emerged, however, that the council has finally received the go-ahead for the work on the longawaited footbridge from the Railway Safety Commission, an independent body that oversees the safety of the railway system.
The local authority is now finalising some details with CIE and it is hoped that work will begin on the bridge within the next two months.