Regional road in North Mayo was not gritted

The Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council has queried why a regional road in the county, on which five lorries jackknifed during a recent cold snap, was never gritted.

Cllr Michael Loftus raised his concerns over the lack of gritting on the R315 road, the regional road connecting Crossmolina to Ballycastle and passing through Moygownagh.

“This is a regional road and should be included in the gritting plan,” he told a meeting of Ballina Municipal District. “What is the difference between the road connecting Crossmolina and Ballycastle and a regional road near Castlebar or Westport?”

Cllr Loftus asked if it would be possible to provide the material for gritting to local business owners to allow them to grit the roads themselves during spells of inclement weather. Cllr Loftus said that during the most recent cold snaps, five lorries jackknifed while travelling down this road causing further disruptions in the area.

Senior engineer with the Ballina Municipal District Declan Ginnelly said he would not be in favour of doing this.

“Giving gritting salt out to a business and allowing them to grit the road themselves provides a false sense of security that a road is safe to travel on when usually it isn’t,” he said.

Mr Ginnelly said that including the R315 would have to be progressed through the council's Roads Strategic Policy Committee, which Cllr Seamus Weir said would not work.

“We are black in the face trying to change policy at the SPCs. Do we really have any power at the SPC? This road has been brought up five or six times now and nothing has been done,” he said.

Mr Ginnelly said there is always a dilemma around the gritting of roads and that is why there is a policy in place to deal with primary, national, secondary, regional and local roads.

“You mentioned regional roads, this is a regional road. That is the whole point,” said Cllr Loftus.