It might seem incongruous given the current weather, but Waterford City Council is to purchase a snow plough and two new gritters to counter future wintry inclemencies.
The new machinery will set the Council back €100,000, members were informed at last Monday night’s monthly meeting by Senior Engineer Frank Roche.
“What we had in place didn’t work very well during the cold spell around Christmas in terms of dispensing grit,” said Mr Roche. “It has also become increasingly difficult to find parts for the equipment at our disposal given their longevity of service.”
He added: “And due to the fact that we now administer bigger, wider roads, such as the Outer Ring Road, it is important to have larger pieces of equipment that we can utilise in the event of wintry weather arising at some point in the future.”
Mr Roche was pleased to inform the meeting that the Council has received a block grant of €1.25million to remedy much of the damage inflicted on the city’s roads during the cold snap.
This represents an increase of €680,000 on the 2009 figure after the City Council successfully “made a case for discretionary funds” to the Department of Transport according to Mr Roche.
Work will also be carried out on improving the lifting system on Rice Bridge thanks to €700,000 allocated to Waterford City Council for works on the former N25, now known as the R680. The Council will also invest a further €309,000 from its own budget on the Cork Road.