Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has granted a total of €40.4 million to go towards the improvement and maintenance of Donegal national primary and national secondary roads for 2018.
The sum is an increase on 2017’s allocation, however it is still several million short of the €44 million requested by Donegal County Council.
The allocation for 2018 includes allocations for the commencement works on the N56 at Dungloe to Glenties, Mountcharles to Inver and the Coolboy Kilmacrennan.
Over €7.2 million has been allocated to improve road surfaces on the national secondary road network within the county.
Welcoming the allocation, Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher Leas Cheann Comhairle says that this year’s allocation must only be viewed as a start to the level of investment which is required in order to improve the county’s road network.
“Significant further investment will be required in order to deal with the lack of investment in the road network since 2011, this will involve increased funding year on year to clear the backlog of road improvements needed on our roads,” he said.
“Additional works need to be carried out on the N15 Ballybofey to Lifford and the Letterkenny to Lifford N14 road needs to be prioritised in advance of the A5 works moving to construction – it is essential that preparatory work are done on these projects in order to progress the required improvements in the years ahead.
“The N56 also requires further investment in the coming years with the stage between Inver to Five Points in Killybegs requiring route selection and other preparatory works. If we as a county are to benefit from the improving levels of investment available for roads nationwide it will be imperative that we have projects ready which are ready to go to the construction stage.”
He added that the route network in Donegal is the “backbone of our infrastructure”, and extra investment needs to be sured for our regional and county road networks in order to deal with the infrastructure deficit.
In relation to county and regional roads, it is anticipated that an allocation for these roads will be made by the Department of Transport within a matter of weeks, it is critical that Donegal gets a sizeable portion which should be well in excess of the 2017 allocation of €20.2m.
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