Tag Archives: road gritting

A WEST Clare councillor has called for the reclassification of regional roads in the district to facilitate more regular gritting during a cold snap. Councillor Murphy proposed the R487, R488 between Kilkee, Carrigaholt and Kilbaha, and the R473 between Kildysart and Labasheeda, be included as strategic regional routes in future winter service plans as Priority Two. Speaking at a recent West Clare Municipal District meeting, Councillor Murphy said these two strategic regional routes were not included in the Winter Plan for treating roads, despite the fact they served significant populations. The Kilkee Councillor said the R487 is effectively a main road to the Loop Head Peninsula for about 3,000 people. “These roads should be treated as Priority Two, which means their treatment will not be done on an ad-hoc basis. This would ensure they are a core part of the treatment of roads rather than we will get to them if we can. “This is exactly the kind of stuff …

CLARE County Council is working at full capacity to grit 17% of the road network in the county, local councillors have been told. Senior engineer, John Leahy confirmed at a council meeting on Monday priority routes were salted twice a day and during the weekend with the help of ten drivers in recent days. Mr Leahy said 25 pick up trucks came into the yard on Monday morning and left with salt for areas in municipal districts. “It is not possible to cover the whole road network. We cover the national primary, national secondary, most regional roads and busy local primary roads. “We are operating at full capacity. We emptied a full salt barn in the last week, but we have adequate salt stocks in place for the cold snap. It is a difficult situation over the last few days because of weather conditions. “We are salting 17% of the road network,” he said. Councillor Joe Garrihy said rural roads …

Drivers have been facing treacherous road conditions on their journey this morning (Wednesday) following heavy overnight snowfall. The main roads were gritted through the night by Clare County Council personnel but drivers are being warned they still need to exercise caution. Roads which were badly affected include: Ennis-Kilrush Ennis-Ennistymon The M18 motorway Shannon Town Kilmaley The hill at Kilnamona The Hand Kilcolgan and Ardrahan in Co. Galway While thaw is setting in, back roads are likely to remain slippery for several hours to come. Power cuts have also been reported in Smxilebridge, Tulla, Killaloe and Lahinch. At one point the ESB said nearly 800 customers were affected. Services on the rail-line between Ennis and Athenry have been suspended due to frozen points. Bus Éireann says most services are running with delays, though the Scariff-Clonlara-Limerick service was cancelled. It will be a case of snow to heavy rain and stormy conditions later today. Met Éireann is warning of heavy rain showers this …