Council welcomes €13.7m funding to help fix our storm-damaged roads

KILKENNY County Council has welcomed the announcement that €13.7 million of funding will be invested in our roads this year.

The funding is a 15% increase on what was originally allocated in 2018, which will allow the council to make badly need repairs to roads across the county that were badly damaged in last year’s storms.

Particular emphasis in this round of roads funding has been placed on maintenance and improvement works in order to promote safety of road users, including cyclists and pedestrians.

The council said: “Almost all categories of expenditure have increased including restoration improvement works which has increased by €600,000 to €6.95 million.

“These monies contribute to the planned improvements of roads which have been identified as requiring strengthening under the council’s three year programme.”

An additional €330,000 has been allocated to fund drainage works, bringing the total amount to €661,000.

Some €494,000 has been ring fenced for the Community Involvement Scheme in road works, which the council said will “make positive in-roads into the long list of projects on hand”.

Cathaoirleach Eamon Aylward welcomed the increase in funding, adding: “This will go a long way towards addressing the issues that have arisen following the hard winter of 2017/2018.”

“The addition of specific funding under the categories of Drainage Works and the Community Involvement Scheme allows the council to focus further funding on strengthening and improvement works required on regional and local roads throughout the county.”