This article is from page 6 of the 2011-02-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
CLARE County Council this week confirmed that it had spent almost all of the money it was allocated to care for the county’s roads – completing all work with the exception of two projects.
Fears were expressed at the end of last year by Deputy Joe Carey (FG) that the roadwork’s budget would not be spent and therefore lost.
In total the local authority spent € 22.687 million on all road works.
The allocation confirmed by the Department of Transport in relation to Regional and Local Roads for 2010 was € 15, 586,498, € 15, 281,462 of which was spent by the council.
The shortfall of approximately € 300,000 was attributed to the fact that a sum of € 500,000, allocated in respect of the Killaloe By-Pass/ Shannon Crossing, could not be spent as planning and design stages documentation were under consideration by the Department of Transport.
According to senior engineer Tom Tiernan, “To all intents and purposes the council completed its Roadworks Programme in 2010. Any minor elements, which were not completed, were as such due to circumstances outside of the council’s control. For example, it became apparent in early summer 2010 that it would not be possible to spend a sum of € 300,000 allocated to Blakes Corner, Ennistymon, due to the complexity and sensitivity of the procedures involved because of the conflict between the proposed junction improvement and the location of adjacent protected structures.
“The Roadworks Programme was implemented systematically while taking account of the specific needs of the various work sites involved, the climatic conditions required in each case, optimisation and allocation of plant resources available etc. Certain difficulties were encountered both at the beginning and the end of 2010 because of the very severe weather conditions, which pertained. Certain improvisations and strategy alterations were required but ultimately the job was completed as effectively as it could be in the prevailing circumstances.”
Among the routes to benefit from road improvement works were the N68 at Edenvale, Caherea, Lissycasey and Kilrush, the N67 at Moyasta and the R352 in Tulla. The main road north of Lisdoonvarna to Corkscrew Hill has also been upgraded while the road between Corkscrew Hill and Ballyvaughan is currently being upgraded. Works are scheduled to take place in the coming weeks at Ballyduff beg, Inagh on the N85.