No extra capacity for further gritting of Longford roads until next winter

There is no extra capacity to carry out any further gritting of roads in county Longford until next winter, councillors were told at the recent March monthly meeting of Granard Municipal District.

Fianna Fáil Councillor David Cassidy requested that Gaigue Cross to the 98 Bar in Ballinamuck should be included on the winter service plan along with 300 metres on the approach road from Aughamore Lower to Martin's Cross in Legga.

Separately, Fine Gael Councillor Garry Murtagh called on the local authority to make the road from Smear Stores to the county boundary at Drumhaldry towards Arva be made a priority road on the winter service plan for gritting in adverse weather conditions.

The motions were seconded and supported by Cllr Turlough McGovern and Cllr Padraig McNamara respectively.
Councillor McGovern said he believes there are only about "20 bad days in the year" and he thought the funding should be provided.
District Engineer David Coppinger replied and said it is "not feasible to treat all public thoroughfares" as part of the winter maintenance programme and routes are prioritised based on the type of road, traffic volume, transport usage and importance.

"At the moment we salt 23% of the entire county road network and we do not have any extra capacity to add any additional salting routes," he said.

"The requests you have spoken about, they can be considered for the 2025-2026 winter maintenance programme should additional resources and funding be made available,” Mr Coppinger concluded.

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