Unsalted secondary roads - careful!

spider guardian

According to this article in the Mayo News there is a severe shortage of road salt in the country and Mayo County Council will not be salting any secondary roads until the NRA can guarantee a constant supply.

Not surprised really, this time around we could just about cope with one big freeze but two in the same month was unexpected. Still, more imaginative solutions will have to be proposed, Mayo was never high on the NRA's list of priorities and we shouldn't be relying on them to keep the county moving. As one of the councillors mentioned maybe we could keep some independent contractors on standby in various parts of the county to be deployed when needed. Expensive yes but how much money will businesses lose this year when people aren't able to get to the pubs or shops because conditions are treacherous?

Given Mayo's size and amount of roads (anywhere in the region of 5-15,000km? not sure about this!) getting even a sizeable amount of the county's roads gritted is a challenge but not having any secondary roads treated for anything up to two weeks is unacceptable!

steph1

Its an absolute disgrace. Mayo does not seem to be high on any priority lists. If this was Dublin there would be war.
This weekend would normally be the busiest for retailers, pubs, hotels, restaurants etc with parties, shopping etc.
I am a taxi driver myself and the impact the weather is having on business is unreal. I am mainly an evening/night driver. The pubs are not busy during the week so I depend heavily on the weekend trade as do the bars. I worked on Thursday night and managed to get around. I am ok on main roads but the estates are lethal. However in relation to main roads some of these were very dodgy in parts last weekend and I dont think any of them had been gritted.
I think that private companies will have to be deployed to keep the county moving. Its unacceptable in this day and age that everywhere has to come to a standstill as people dont feel confident to take their cars out and drivers can risk life and limb to go about their daily work.
I had to miss working tonight as the snowfall was just too heavy and the temp has plumetted so driving is treacherous. Not all my customers live in town and it is a risk trying to drive on narrow country roads in the middle of nowhere. Business is bad enough for us all now without having to take an enforced night off.

mayo.mick

This was well predicted in advance, mt's first early prediction,
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=69486895&postcount=1821

and then last monday, when met eireann were predicting milder weather,

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=69532934&postcount=1825

and the rest, as they say is history:D

spider guardian

mayo.mick wrote: »

This was well predicted in advance, mt's first early prediction,
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=69486895&postcount=1821

and then last monday, when met eireann were predicting milder weather,

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=69532934&postcount=1825

and the rest, as they say is history:D

Even if the 2 cold snaps had been predicted 6 months in advance would things have been any different? probably not. this will be a recurring problem and the council need to get their act together. the 'unprecedented' and 'unexpected' excuses won't cut the mustard anymore. in fairness the government have released funds in recent days to allay the problem and the council are somewhat are at the mercy of such funds but money will have to be kept aside in future to deal with such events, the council's main objective should be to keep the county moving

Patsy fyre

The main roads arnt even being salted never mind the secondary roads. Its an absolute disgrace. I dont understand why its not all bought in during the summer and stored. There should be provisions for this purchase each year and bought in again as soon as stocks get below 5o tonne. Its not as if there is a sell by date.
I know for a fact the we are paying 4 times as much for the salt that is coming into the country now than we could have got it for during the summer.

Its time the council used a bit if foresight. Its just not good enough.

ciaran67

steph1 wrote: »

Its an absolute disgrace. Mayo does not seem to be high on any priority lists. If this was Dublin there would be war.
This weekend would normally be the busiest for retailers, pubs, hotels, restaurants etc with parties, shopping etc.
I am a taxi driver myself and the impact the weather is having on business is unreal. I am mainly an evening/night driver. The pubs are not busy during the week so I depend heavily on the weekend trade as do the bars. I worked on Thursday night and managed to get around. I am ok on main roads but the estates are lethal. However in relation to main roads some of these were very dodgy in parts last weekend and I dont think any of them had been gritted.
I think that private companies will have to be deployed to keep the county moving. Its unacceptable in this day and age that everywhere has to come to a standstill as people dont feel confident to take their cars out and drivers can risk life and limb to go about their daily work.
I had to miss working tonight as the snowfall was just too heavy and the temp has plumetted so driving is treacherous. Not all my customers live in town and it is a risk trying to drive on narrow country roads in the middle of nowhere. Business is bad enough for us all now without having to take an enforced night off.

Feel for you Steph. I was driving in Greystones, Wicklow last winter and missed loads of Dec and Jan. Packed it in in July.

steph1

Cheers Ciaran. It really is a bummer. Its just too dangerous to risk car and of course myself in this weather. During the last weekend I did Saturday night and most of my work was from the phone which was ok as they were mostly regular customers and I know where they are going. Its not as if all live near town -there are some very dodgy roads not far out of town that I drive on regularly and they are bad enough in good weather never mind in snow and ice.
The Council do not appear to have gritted many roads at all as far as I could see. Its a disgrace. Apart from my own business there are plenty of others who have to drive for a living. I was talking to the guy who delivers my oil on Saturday evening and its a nightmare for these drivers as well as they have to go all over the place.
I was supposed to go to Dublin for Christmas but I am not going to chance it as the roads are too bad. I did this journey last year and it was a nightmare as it took nearly 5 hours to get back to Mayo with the state of the roads then. Dont think much has changed in a year

mikemac

If ye lived in Dublin the roads would be done.

You live outside Dublin so RTÉ doesn't give any attention and your county council are as useless as most others

Plus Mayo probably has more roads per population then any other county

ciaran67

steph1 wrote: »

I was supposed to go to Dublin for Christmas but I am not going to chance it as the roads are too bad. I did this journey last year and it was a nightmare as it took nearly 5 hours to get back to Mayo with the state of the roads then. Dont think much has changed in a year

Same for us. We're heading to my Auntie Dee's in Rathfarnham. Still undecided.