Verbal abuse of road workers was a regular occurrence at N15 works

Workers engaged on roadworks in North Sligo over the past couple of weeks were regularly subjected to verbal abuse from motorists as tailbacks reached several kilometres.

The long traffic delays, up to an hour at times, at Rathcormack on the N15 (main Sligo to Donegal road) have been substantially reduced with the works are due to substantially finish on Friday.

The works began on March 7 th and were carried out by Lagan Asphalt Ltd (trading as Breedon).

But the level of abuse hurled at some workers by motorists during the long delays on one of the busiest roads in the county, was totally unacceptable, according to the works contract manager Brian Golden.

Mr Golden, from Ballinrobe, told The Sligo Champion that “nobody deserves to be treated in the way that some of the workers were treated.”

“They just don’t understand what is happening and they don’t want to understand.

“We are working outside Rathcormack Primary School which is one of the biggest schools in Sligo and we began the work when they were on the Easter holidays to reduce the level of inconvenience.

“We are now almost finished, and the only other alternative would be summer, and can you imagine the effect that would have?

“Some of our workers were badly racially abused by some motorists and that is just totally unacceptable.

“One of the workers who was abused has been living in Ballymahon, County Longford and he has grown up in this country.

He added: “A lot of people were giving us the middle finger and shouting at us and calling us w…..s. These incidents are disgraceful, and they came on top of a job that is particularly challenging in the first place as anyone who travels this road can see that it was falling apart.

“Something had to be done and it is 372 linear metres long and is a huge amount of work.”

He added: “We are keeping a record of anyone that has been abusive and we will be sending on the number plates to the gardaí in Grange.

“There have been up to a dozen of these motorists but they are now on record. It is to get it out there that there could be consequences for people who decide to hurl such abuse at people who are just doing their jobs to the very best of their ability.

“There is not a lot we can do as we can’t stop them and pull them out of the car and deal with them there and then.”

He continued: “Last week there was heavy civil works and this week it is light finishing works and this is easier planned, and we have finished every evening this week at 5 pm.

“Last week we had to leave temporary traffic lights on overnight and that by nature stops traffic.

“Last week was manic as everyone was travelling and this week quite a few people are still on holidays, so you don’t have the same volume of traffic.”

Mr Golden added that at one stage there was an eightkilometre tail-back on the road from Rathcormack towards Donegal. And then there was a tailback towards Sligo of 4.5km.

“That was last week, and things are well improved since Tuesday and maybe because people have gone a different route. It is very important to note that we just did not land here two weeks ago as this was planned from 6-8 weeks ago.

“Some people are saying that there was no planning gone into this job, but I would say it was the best planned job in a long time. We knew by the nature of the works, we knew by the nature of the traffic and we are familiar with this road as we did works before at Creevykeel in north Sligo.

“Some people were saying why were the works not done at night but there is no asphalt plant in Sligo and quarries are not supposed to be open at night so people can’t have it every way. It would also cost half as much and more again at night so that has to be factored in as well.”

Mr Golden added that there were some learnings to be taken from the experience.

“Traffic should not have been allowed to go along the back roads. That has caused major problems with a number of incidents and those back roads are not in a good state now.

“There have been accidents, people stuck on roads and they should have been restricted.

“Some people veered off towards Ben Bulben and then were coming out at the church in Rathcormack and were nudging out and that was where a lot of the abuse was taking place.

“We were prioritising the main road traffic, so anyone who came down the side roads were not getting out to get home and that was largely where the frustration came from those motorists.

“If they had stayed on the main road, it would have been much better for them.

“Everybody is slating us and the Council but at the end of the day, Sligo is updating their infrastructure and people should be proud of that infrastructure as well.

“It is money being spent in Sligo and if it’s not being spent here, it will be spent in Dublin or elsewhere.

“They all give out but if there is no work going on there is no money.”

Meanwhile, in a statement, Sligo County Council said that the pavement strengthening and resurfacing works are due to finish on Friday.

The work necessitated temporary traffic management measures, including the use of traffic light single lane shuttle systems and stop/go operations, to ensure the safe passage of road users through the works zone.

Gardaí had earlier issued advice to motorists not to travel on minor and secondary roads in the area in order to avoid the traffic restrictions.

There have been a number of accidents on these minor road in North Sligo whilst the high volume of traffic resulted in damaged verges and the emergence of several potholes.