€1 million cost of ‘rocky’ road to Castlebridge
CLOSE to €1 million has been spent on the ‘rocky’ road from Wexford to Castlebridge and the work is still not finished, Director of Services Eamonn Hore told councillors as he apologised for the delay.
Mr. Hore kept his promise to Cllr. Ger Carthy to produce a report on the R741 and introduced it by saying there was concern about the length of time spent on the reconstruction of the road which is the busiest regional artery into Wexford, with annual average traffic of 10,000 a day.
‘People said it has been going on forever. I would have to concede that it is,’ said Mr. Hore, adding that there was earlier disruption in 2013 and 2014 as a result of a €2 million extension of the public sewer system from Wexford to Castlebridge.
‘I would have to concede it is a rocky road to Wexford,’ said the Director who presented a cartoon of paramedic Cllr. Carthy driving an ambulance on the route, in a reference to a comment made at a previous meeting when the councillor said patients in ambulances were being shaken to death on the thoroughfare.
Mr. Hore said there are 67 businesses along the road in an area which the Council is prioritising for additional business. This is one of the reasons he feels there is a need for a second bridge in Wexford.
He said the Council informed the Minister the road would cost €1 million and the Minister replied that they would get €600,000.
The work was extensive as it was discovered a large section of the road was ‘in absolute bits’ and it was also complex in that it involved forward planning, drainage, public lighting, broadband, pedestrian accommodation, footpaths, cycling lanes, existing infrastructure, turning movements and boundaries.
The Minister provided €350,000 in 2015 and this was added to a Restoration Improvement Grant of €160,000 and €37,000 in planning levies to make up an expenditure that year of €547,000. This included €170,000 in broadband cables and culvert extensions and drainage costing €200,000.
In 2016, the expenditure was €395,00 which included a Restoration Improvement Grant of €125,000 and planning levies of €270,000.
Describing the cost of reconstructing regional roads as ‘phenomenal’, he offered examples of other projects including the Rosslare Roundabout to Maudlintown road which cost €1 million including an Active Travel Grant from the Government of €640,000 and €360,000 from the Council and the Duncannon Roundabout to King Street Road which cost €3.15 million.
Mr. Hore said the next phase of the Castlebridge Road will be from the Nissan garage into Wexford town.
‘A huge amount of money goes into our regional roads. We are now working to a design rather than responding to a planning application here and a planning application there.’
The Mayor, Cllr. Frank Staples thanked the ‘straight-talking Director of Services’ for his report.
Cllr. Ger Carthy asked exactly how much the road has cost to date and what was the amount of planning levies involved. ‘ There are plenty of figures thrown out there but can you tell me what was it supposed to cost and how much has it cost to date’.
Cllr. George Lawlor asked if it was the case that when the Council looked at the road outside the Audi garage that it was much worse than foreseen and this ate up the Government grant of €350,000. ‘Is it that a vast bulk of the allocation was used up on that stretch.
‘Are we in a position to say that the rest of the road is not as badly torn up,’ he asked.
Cllr. Lawlor suggested that a PR campaign such as the one run in conjunction with the Wexford main drainage scheme many years ago with the message ‘We’re Sorry But it Will Be Worth It’ might have allayed the concerns of people who have likened the road to ‘ a lunar landscape’.
Mr. Hore said there was no question of putting a surface overlay on a road that was discovered to be failed. The cost of the first section from the Audi garage to the Nissan car centre, a distance of a couple of hundred metres was €547,000 which included €170,000 for broadband, drainage and spare ducts for future use. The rest of the road has been tested and is not as bad. ‘ That’s the cost of that level of work,’ he added. Asked by Cllr. Carthy whether the Council exceeded what it expected to spend, Mr. Hore replied ’ Yes, absolutely, but for very good reasons.’