Inordinate road resurfacing in Dublin at the moment

Slideshowbob

Not that I'm complaining but anyone else noticed this?

Also, it's not just a 30 or 40mm layer! They are scraping off up to 8 inches in places, removing the old materials, and then resurfacing!

I know we had some bad winters and roads are a mess but at the same time I thought the state was broke?!?

Could it be the case that councils / departments have to spend to ensure futures budgets??!!

Also it all looks like good work and keeps people employed but don't services like gas etc always come along soon after and dig up again anyway?!? ;-)

AlekSmart

Slideshowbob wrote: »

Not that I'm complaining but anyone else noticed this?

.....I know we had some bad winters and roads are a mess but at the same time I thought the state was broke?!?

Could it be the case that councils / departments have to spend to ensure futures budgets??!!

Also it all looks like good work and keeps people employed but don't services like gas etc always come along soon after and dig up again anyway?!? ;-)

Something very fishy going on here sure 'nuff Slideshowbob.

The impetus comes,I think,from a Leo Varadakar inspired move to utilize funding earmarked for National Route/Motorway projects now stalled indefinitely.
It appears that significant funds were lying there fallow subsequent to the postponement decision.

However,as you say,it also appears that Local Authorities simply did'nt have any structured plan to repair or upgrade anything,so when gifted with this money and a spend-by date they merely reverted to form and loaded their scatterguns.

Therefore we see Dublin's Dundrum Road,Ballsbridge,Merrion Road and now Donnybrook all being subjected to this work,when in some cases they have barely bedded-in their last substantial resurfacing.

Then,as you point out,we have other far more deserving locations left unattended to slip further down the thrid-world-road index as nobody has them on their list.

Equally we see the strong perseverance with the multiple works by unconnected statutory bodies,probably best illustrated in Dublin at Appian Way-Leeson St where Dublin City Council had a Contractor do a very high quality,and long overdue major resurfacing some 3 months ago....fast-forward 10 days to the arrival of an ESB contractor who excavated EXACTLY along the newly laid stretch,performed the usual "Temporary Reinstatement" and buggered off leaving the place in shyte...holes,loose filling,crqacked uneven carriageway...the works.

Who's idea....who's responsibility ?....are you joking...this is Ireland..."why would you ask that Sir ? I'm afraid that's commercially sensitive information,could'nt possibly divulge that.."

I'd like to think the Dublin City Manager had a big deduction from his salary made as a result of this planned civic bloody-mindedness,but I'll not hold my breath. :mad:

mikemac

Slideshowbob wrote: »

Could it be the case that councils / departments have to spend to ensure futures budgets??!!

You've answered your own question

meglome

Was driving around with some Americans a month of so ago and I can tell you the roads in Dublin city are the worst I'd ever seen them. Many of the pavements are in a bad state too.

Work needed to be done badly.

Pete_Cavan

Slideshowbob wrote: »

I know we had some bad winters and roads are a mess but at the same time I thought the state was broke?!?

Could it be the case that councils / departments have to spend to ensure futures budgets??!!

Under the governments Jobs Initiative, €60m was reallocated for surface restoration and road reconstruction works. There are many resurfacing works taking place all over the country, see here.

Gumbo

AlekSmart wrote: »

Equally we see the strong perseverance with the multiple works by unconnected statutory bodies,probably best illustrated in Dublin at Appian Way-Leeson St where Dublin City Council had a Contractor do a very high quality,and long overdue major resurfacing some 3 months ago....fast-forward 10 days to the arrival of an ESB contractor who excavated EXACTLY along the newly laid stretch,performed the usual "Temporary Reinstatement" and buggered off leaving the place in shyte...holes,loose filling,crqacked uneven carriageway...the works.

Who's idea....who's responsibility ?....are you joking...this is Ireland..."why would you ask that Sir ? I'm afraid that's commercially sensitive information,could'nt possibly divulge that.."

I'd like to think the Dublin City Manager had a big deduction from his salary made as a result of this planned civic bloody-mindedness,but I'll not hold my breath. :mad:

thats a joke and should be followed up on, coming from a PS worker who knows that savings and waste needs to stop.
If i was you i would write a letter of complaint to the City Managers Department asking for an explanation on this. ESB would of having to apply for a road opening licence and DCC should of known this work was done and then ensured the tidy up from ESB was to the same standard.

you cant forsee future problems from other state bodies, and DCC probably could not of tied in the ESB work with their own road work as they probably didnt know ESB were going to require acces to the said road, it could of ben an emergenxy or similar but the very very least DCC can do is to inspect the road finish before they ESB contractor leaves site.

Another option is a large bond to be placed with DCC prior to works commencing in order to fix the road if the contractor fecks off and leaves it in bits.


Dublin City Council
City Manager’s Department
Civic Offices
Wood Quay
Dublin 8

Tel: (01) 222 2222
Email: manager@dublincity.ie

AlekSmart

kceire wrote: »

If i was you i would write a letter of complaint to the City Managers Department asking for an explanation on this. ESB would of having to apply for a road opening licence and DCC should of known this work was done and then ensured the tidy up from ESB was to the same standard.

Email: manager@dublincity.ie

Well I'm kinda of the opinion that for a major project such as the Appian Way one was,involving lane closures and contra-flowing,the City Management would have a bit more than passing knowledge of it.

All of this scattergun approach continues to ignore major routes such as Mount Street which has also been quite deliberately attacked by a wide variety of Telecomms contractors over the years,each with a different appreciation of the term "Level Surface"....:mad:

It's also worth remembering that the original Dublin Transport Authority of the Garret Fitzgerald coalition era was to have substantial powers to levy cash penalties on contractors and other statutory bodies for exactly this type of nonsense....perhaps it's little wonder that body had such a premature end...?

amacachi

Decent amount going on in Dundalk too. Not sure where the impetus came from but the areas being done should've been done a good while ago.

MagicMarker

There's a lot of crap to complain about in this country, this isn't one of them.

uncle_sam_ie

Cork roads are worse. The county bought this million euro machine that comes around and fills in the pot holes. It's a joke because the pot holes are back to the way they were after a week.

RichardAnd

Our road in North Dublin was resurfaced early in the year. I though that this was a little strange as, to my eye, there was nothing at all out out of sorts while at the same time, there were a few lesser used roads in the area in pretty dire straights.

Strange.

spank_inferno

Several points of the M11/N11 down to Wicklow have closed hard shoulders to dig random holes all of a sudden.

Guess its the "end of year... lash through the budget" spending.

Of course there will be no money for repairs come February after the winter.

murphaph

It's only Irish (and German) taxpayers' money folks. Chill :cool:

Dannyboy83

The roads in Cork have been a disaster for the last few years.

In fairness, they've recently started doing some road works.
The times they're doing the work aren't the greatest, causing a lot of traffic jams.

In this case tho, I'll gladly keep my mouth shut.
I'm just glad they're finally doing something about this.

neiphin

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Under the governments Jobs Initiative, €60m was reallocated for surface restoration and road reconstruction works. There are many resurfacing works taking place all over the country, see here.

which are subsaquintly given to foreign companies to do

TheUsual

Roads in Dublin are in a shocking state. North and South of the Liffey are just as bad.

I never thought I would say this but country roads are in better shape. Outside of Co. Dublin that is.