Authorities to carry out bridge resurfacing work

Fears that urgent resurfacing works will only take place on the Clare side of a landmark river crossing linking the twin communities of Ballina and Killaloe have been allayed by a local engineer.

Clare county councillors and North Tipperary county councillors had expressed disappointment that North Tipperary County Council has no provision made in its estimates to carry out repairs on its side of the bridge in 2010.
Clare County Council had set aside in the region of €18,000 in 2010 to resurface the Clare side of the crossing. North Tipperary senior executive engineer Michael F Hayes confirmed, at a joint meeting of the Killaloe and Newport Electoral Areas, that the council hadn’t provided any money for resurfacing works in the current year.
However, Killaloe executive engineer Seán Lenihan stressed Clare County Council was not going to just repair half of the bridge in isolation without the full co-operation from North Tipperary County Council to complete the full bridge.
Acknowledging that some confusion may have arisen at a recent joint meeting between the two electoral areas, Mr Lenihan stressed it would make no sense to close the bridge twice and implement traffic-management plans for two different jobs.
Mr Lenihan confirmed the two authorities would do their utmost to ensure that inconvenience to the public was kept to a minimum by completing the work as quickly as possible.
In addition to cutting the loops on the traffic lights regulating vehicles crossing the bridge, the two councils will have to close it for a specified period, possibly two days.
No final details have been agreed to date and Mr Lenihan explained they would examine all possibilities, including the practicality of working during the night if possible and keeping it open to pedestrians for some period during the work.
Mr Lenihan told The Clare Champion the council also hoped to carry out resurfacing works from the canal bank out to Kincora while the bridge was closed.
Asked if the funds earmarked for the Clare side of the bridge had been lost, Mr Lenihan stressed the money had been re-allocated to another project in 2010 but would be available when required in the coming months.
North Tipperary County Councillor Phyll Bugler told a recent joint meeting of the Killaloe and Newport Electoral Areas there were major dips on all sides of the bridge, which required to be tarmaced.
Councillor Bugler claimed the surface was not level because of all the heavy-goods vehicles using the crossing and felt that €18,000 was a very small amount for the work that needed to be completed.
She pointed out that an area known locally as Between the Waters and other sections of the bridge required a lot of attention and needed to be upgraded.
“The bridge is an important crossing linking Ballina and Killaloe. Tourism is the main business in the two towns. When there is a small bit of rain, the dips on the bridge fill up and pedestrians walking over and back on the bridge get drenched,” she said.