State to spend €607m on regional and local roads

THE GOVERNMENT is to spend just over €607 million on the regional and local road network this year, a marginal drop on last year’s record allocation of €618 million.

More than half of the money – some €310 million – is to be used for surface, or “pavement”, restoration of the network, which represents 94 per cent of the Republic’s roads, and carries 60 per cent of all traffic. The local road network also carries some 43 per cent of all goods vehicles.

Announcing the allocations yesterday, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said the money was intended to improve 2,540 kilometres of road this year and surface dress a further 4,200 kilometres.

Some counties, particularly Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo, and Donegal, which have seen little of the investment in new motorways are particularly suffering from wear and tear of the road “pavement”. The overall €607.5 million allocation also includes €182 million – down from €188 million last year –  for 316 specific road improvement projects of various sizes and scales. This money will include provision for new roads and bridges, and road and bridge upgrade projects.

It involves investment in and between the gateways and hubs designated in the National Spatial Strategy. It also covers roads which open up strategically placed landbanks for housing and development as well as projects in all areas that support employment and economic activity.

A total of €15 million has been set aside this year for the Local Improvements Scheme. Under this scheme grants are made available to county councils to carry out road works on private roads.

Works carried out provide improved access for people in isolated and depopulated areas.

Some € 8.6 million is to be provided to address collision black spots.

Commenting on the programme yesterday, Mr Dempsey said he was “particularly pleased” spending on the network had remained high given the level of economic difficulty facing the exchequer.

“Since the mid-1990s we have invested over €2 billion in a programme of road restoration and reconstruction and we have also spent about €650 million on road maintenance works to make our roads better and safer.”

Referring to the provision for collision black spots, Mr Dempsey said safety was “central to all road improvement and maintenance work and is a key plank of the road investment programme.

“As in previous years, I am making specific allocations this year to tackle accident black spots.  This year, specific safety measures will be put in place at over 300 locations.”

The other main elements of the investment programme include improvements to signposting on regional roads, traffic management measures, improvements to footpaths, and grants for road worker training programmes.

The Minister stressed the importance of local authorities in the improvement and maintenance of the regional and local roads network.

“State grants are a supplement to expenditure by the local authorities,” he said.

“All authorities need to maintain and even increase their own expenditure on their road networks.”