Waterville road widening hits a snag

THE land is there and the work is long overdue but much needed road widening works on the N70 close to the Skellig Bay Golf Club in Waterville will not be carried out anytime soon.

Senior Roads Engineer Padraic Teahan says the NRA’s budget is unlikely to stretch to the relevant section, particularly as there will be a significant reduction in allocations into the future.

Speaking at a recent area meeting, the engineer said the road section will be considered for submission to the NRA when the roads authority next invites proposals for road realignment and widening schemes on the national secondary network.

“Due to the projected significant reduction in funding available to the NRA over the next number of years, it is uncertain when the NRA will again be considering the funding of this type of scheme,” Mr Teahan stated.

“The council will, however, continue to bring to the attention of the NRA the deficient portions of the network that require significant improvements, including this section of the N70 outside Waterville,” he added.

The comments were made in response to a motion tabled by Cllr Paul O’Donoghue who said it was “absolutely ridiculous” that the work could not be carried out as land for the project had already been acquired.

Last week NRA chief executive Fred Barry announced that it was €100m short of the amount it needed to fully maintain the country's new national roads network next year.