Road Transport and Safety

Sligo County Council is committed to providing an efficient and safe road network and is responsible for the maintenance and improvement of over 2600km of public roads.

Sligo Inner Relief Road

The ‘Advance Works’ contract on the Sligo Inner Relief Road were carried out in 2003, which included archaeological investigations along the route and the relocation of services. It is expected that the main construction contract will commence in 2004.

Restoration Improvement Grant

Funding of €4.1m was provided towards this scheme in 2003 for work on non-national (regional and local) roads. Work carried out includes surface restoration, strengthening poor sections of road, improvement of drainage and restoration of roads to original widths.

Surface restoration:

9.8km of Regional roads and 125km of local roads restored under the programme.

Road reconstruction:

5.4 km of Regional roads and 0.8 km of local roads were improved under this element of the programme, including…

• R290 Ballygawley/Kilross
• R284 Mullaghmore, Sooey
• R297 Bunowna/ Killeenduff
• R293 Gurteen to County Boundary
• Local road L66017 Carrowhubbock South.

Restoration Maintenance Grants

€1.4m was provided in 2003 to surface dress nonnational (local and regional) roads - this funding facilitated the restoration of 12km of regional roads and 61.4km of local roads.

Discretionary Improvement Grants

Funding of €618,000 was allocated under this programme in 2003 is to carry out improvement works on non-national roads. The works included construction of footpaths, public lighting extension and improvement, improvement of sight lines at bends and junctions, flooding relief, bridge repairs and road safety. The programme also provides for the erection of flashing amber lights at schools, and schools to benefit in 2003 included Carns (Gurteen), Killeenduff, Calry and Sooey.

Road Re-Alignment Schemes
R292 Strandhill Road

Over 100,000 cubic metres of material was used in the construction of an embankment to raise the new road to the level of the existing road at Tully. The new realignments have replaced the narrow, winding section of road thereby improving safety and accessibility to Strandhill village. Over €376,000 was spent on this work in 2003, and it is expected that the scheme will be completed in 2004.

R294 Mullaghroe

The Mullaghroe road was realigned at a cost of €364,000. The scheme was completed and opened to traffic in 2003.

R284 Drumiskibbole /Glenagoolagh

A Compulsory Purchase Order was made in respect of this scheme in 2002. The project involved extensive rock breaking to a depth of 12 metres and import of ‘fill’ material to a depth of 8 metres. The route will be opened to traffic in 2004. €521,000 was spent on the project in the current year.

Archaeological works carried out prior to the main contract at Drumiskibbole /Glenagoolagh provided a small insight into the human activity in the area almost four thousand years ago.

Low Cost Accident Reduction Scheme

Non-national roads

A grant of €68,000 was allocated to this scheme in 2003. Works included…

• R297/L6601 Muckduff-Enniscrone
• R297/L6404 Rathlee
• R294/L4504/L4403 Powellsboro-Chaffpool
• R296/L5603/L5601/L56012 Junction Cloonkeevy, Ballymote
• R293/L81062/L81065 Junction Kilfree, Gurteen
• L33093/L7305 Junction Ballygilgan, Lissadell

National Primary Improvement Works

Strengthening work was carried out on the N4 at Ardloy and Carrownagark, Riverstown at a cost of €200,000. Quality pavement overlay was constructed north of Grange village at a cost of €422,000.

National Secondary Improvement Works

Pavement improvements were carried out on N59 at Carrownacreevy, Culleens, Grangebeg and Templeboy at a total cost of over €400,000.

CLÁR

The CLÁR programme has provided very valuable funding to Sligo County Council over a number of years. The programme is administered through the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, and in 2003 funding was provided to provide flashing safety lights at 14 schools throughout the county. It is generally recognised that the safety lights are an important factor in reducing traffic speeds in the vicinity of schools.

CLÁR Funded Flashing Safety Lights at Schools 2003

School Name	CLÁR
Drumina National School	6,360
Mullaghroe National School	6,360
Holy Family National School Tubbercurry	6,360
Enniscrone National School	6,360
Easkey National School	6,360
Rathlee National School	6,360
Bunninadden National School	6,360
Gurteen National School	6,360
Culfadda National School	6,360
Cloghogue	6,360
Total	63,600

 
Funding of €440,210 was allocated in 2003 to Local Improvement Scheme from Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government. 22 Schemes were offered and accepted. CLÁR has also funded the strengthening and doublesurface dressing of Class 3 roads, and Local Improvement Scheme works were also funded under the programme.

ICBAN

The Irish Central Border Area Network (ICBAN) was established in 1995 and is made up of ten local Authorities - five in the North and five in the Republic. Since its formation ICBAN has received core funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the INTERREG initiative.
In 2003 €450,00 was received in ICBAN grants for the following road schemes..

Regional roads

• R290 Ballygrania    €53,000
• R290 Rathrippon    €52,000
• R287 Dromore/Castleore   €80,000
• R290 Kilross/Ballintogher   €75,000
• R284 Doonally   €55,000
• R287 Crossboy   €65,000
• R290 Crossboy   €20,000

National Roads

• N16 Gortnagrelly   €50,000

Proposed Major Scheme
N17 - Sligo-Galway Road

The route was selected for the new 25km section between Annaghmore to Curry, to tie in with the Charlestown by-pass.

Preliminary design work and documentation for the Environmental Impact Statement and Compulsory Purchase Order will be prepared in 2004 for a 10km section of the route, which will include a by-pass of Tubbercurry.

N4 - Sligo-Dublin road

The route has been selected for the 11km re-alignment of the N4 between Cloonamahon and Castlebaldwin - further stages of work will be dependent on NRA (National Roads Authority) funding.

N15 - Sligo-Bundoran Road

In 1998 the NRA indicated that the unimproved section of the N15 in County Sligo would require upgrading between the years 2005 - 2009 in order to maintain average ‘inter-urban’ speeds of 80kph.

In 2004 it is intended to undertake a constraints study report for the re-alignment of the N15 from Sligo to the county boundary. This will be followed by design of route options and public consultation for route selection later in 2004.