A Donegal County Councillor has called for the council to invest in a road lining lorry and staff to fix faint and non-existent road markings across the country.
Letterkenny Cllr Gerry McMonagle said the lack of markings in certain areas is creating unsafe driving environments for all motorists, particularly learner drivers.
“All the resurfacing works we’ve had throughout the county this last 12 months, it seems to take an age for the road markings to be reinstated,” Cllr McMonagle told the council on Wednesday.
“This is impacting on all road users including pedestrians, it is also now impacting on those who are learning to drive. I have been approached by a number of driving instructors who have difficulties training because of the lack of lineage on the road and at stops.”
Cllr McMonagle said there is a number of major roundabouts in Letterkenny where the painting is worn out or have been resurfaced in recent past where the lining is not guiding motorists anymore.
With the increasing difficulties faced by the council getting Road Lining Contractors, Cllr McMonagle proposed that the council take on the work itself.
The response from the executive, however, was that there was not enough work to justify the investment.
Cllr McMonagle was told that road lining is highly specialised work that is not within the competence of the council at present, and that, on average, there are around two months of work available for a lining gang each year.
Cllr McMonagle said he believed that there was more work available, and asked senior management to examine the investment possibility again.
It is understood that a local Donegal contractor has recently invested in road lining equipment and has employed
experienced staff and will shortly be able to bid for road lining work in Donegal.
“It is expected that this development will go a long way to addressing the current difficulties,” the executive said.
