A SEVERE weather plan to keep Dublin’s roads and footpaths accessible this winter, and proposals for bylaws to make businesses responsible for clearing paths, will be presented to city councillors tomorrow.
The council has stockpiled 2,350 tonnes of salt and is seeking 1,155 tonnes more from the National Roads Authority to keep streets free of snow and ice in the event of a return to last winter’s severe conditions.
It will also have 10 salt spreaders and two snow ploughs for street maintenance, and 17 smaller spreaders and 10 small snow ploughs for footpaths. It will assign 688 staff to severe weather duties for this winter.
The council has compiled separate lists of roads and footpaths which will be spread with salt. Priority will be given to keeping footpaths and streets in the city centre, and the carriageways of major arterial routes, clear, but just a handful of suburban footpaths will be salted.
Approximately 300km of roads have been selected for salt spreading, and the council will stockpile salt at 22 “critical locations” for manual salting during periods of heavy traffic. It said it was not possible to salt all roads in the city and it was prioritising primary and secondary roads, quality bus corridors and other heavily used bus and commuter routes.
Resources will be applied this winter to clearing footpaths in the city centre and some suburbs of snow and ice. Staff from the roads maintenance division, waste management services, parks department, drainage division and outside contractors will be deployed to footpath clearance duties.
About 2,500km of footpaths lie within the council’s jurisdiction. While an effort would be made to keep all city centre footpaths clear, it would not be possible to salt all suburban footpaths, it said.
The council’s roads and traffic department said it would have further consultations with local area offices to determine what areas most required clearance but priority would be given to areas around hospitals, public buildings, shops, schools, rail stations and bus stops in the selected districts.
Bylaws requiring shop owners and other businesses to keep the footpaths outside their premises free from snow and ice will be considered by councillors tomorrow.
The previous minister for transport Noel Dempsey last year said he was considering making people legally obliged to clear snow and ice from footpaths without incurring liability during severe weather. However, legislation never materialised.
The council’s law agent Terence O’Keeffe has said it would be complex but not impossible to introduce such bylaws. Problems would arise, he said, if the bylaws applied to householders. Issues such as how they would apply to people who were on holidays, or out at work, or elderly people or others who could not clear snow or pay for someone to do it for them, would cause difficulties.
However, he said bylaws covering commercial premises only could be enforced. They will not, however, be in place this winter. The bylaws, if sanctioned by councillors, could be subject to a public consultation phase early next year and be in force by next winter.
Meanwhile, the National Roads Authority has said it has enough salt to cope with severe weather for the next three winters. A spokesman for the authority said it has 80,000 tonnes of salt in storage and has tendered for 70,000 more for use on national roads. It has also allocated a further 60,000 tonnes for use on regional and local roads by city and county councils.
A significant proportion of the salt stocks have already been distributed to local authorities, while additional supplies will be disbursed as the need arises.
Salt in the City: Paths to be kept clear but little joy for suburbs
MOST CITY-CENTRE footpaths will be kept clear of snow and ice during severe weather this winter, Dublin City Council has said, but just a select number of suburban areas will have the benefit of salting.
On the southside salt will be spread on footpaths in the village centres of Terenure, Rathgar, Rathmines, Dartry, Ranelagh, Donnybrook, Ballsbridge, Sandymount, Ringsend and Harold’s Cross. Clanbrassil Street, Cork Street, part of the Crumlin Road, the area around Crumlin Hospital, paths surrounding the Walkinstown roundabout, St Agnes Road, parts of Ballyfermot and a number of points on the Grand Canal and the South Circular Road will also be salted.
On the northside the council will spread salt on footpaths at Blackhall Place, Stoneybatter, Manor Street and Prussia Street, leaving a clear run from James Joyce Bridge to the North Circular Road. Phibsborough Village and the Cabra Road to Annamoe Terrace and a number of roads in Cabra will be salted.
The footpath from the Botanic Gardens to the Met Office in Glasnevin, Violet Hill, the junction of the Ballymun Road and Griffith Avenue, large parts of Finglas, Ballymun, the main road in Drumcondra, parts of Fairview, Clontarf, Raheny, Santry, Killester, Artane, parts of Collins Avenue, parts of Coolock and parts of Darndale and the North Fringe area will also be targeted.
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