Roads Service are not prepared to pay £100,000 for the provision of specialised pipe cleaning machinery to resolve the ongoing problem of surface water on Derry’s Craigavon Bridge, it has been claimed.
Craigavon Bridge.
Waterside Sinn Fein Councillor Bridget Meehan has revealed she met with Roads Service officials about the problem and was informed the cost could not be justified and was regarded as “too much” for one stretch of road.
Cllr Meehan said the problem of water gathering on the top tier of the the bridge had been ongoing “for as long as people can remember.”
She added: “As soon as there is any substantial level of rainfall, rain gathers in large puddles of water along the same spots on the road way on the top tier.
“Pedestrians walking on the footpath at those spots often get completely drenched as the passing cars splash through the holes of water. Because space is so limited on the bridge for both cars and pedestrians, it’s difficult to avoid the inevitable outcome. Cars could slow down to minimise the impact but generally, they do not.”
Cllr Meehan revealed she contacted the Roads Service to find out why the problem won’t go away and if it could be resolved.
She said: “They explained that when the bridge was built, there were gully pipes put in place to drain water away from the surfaces of the bridge. These pipes need to be cleaned out on a regular basis using specialised gully-emptying machinery.
“The problem is that the diameters of these pipes are too small for modern gully-emptying machinery. Therefore, the machinery that is today used to clear water from roads isn’t suitable for the bridge and it would cost Roads Service over £100,000 to provide equipment that would work for the pipes. This cost was deemed too much for just one stretch of road and couldn’t be justified.”
Cllr Meehan added: “Instead, Roads Service has a policy whereby they manually clean the gullies on the bridge every month. This manual clean takes longer to carry out but it gets the job done and does clear away the water.”
She concluded: “Roads Service have told me that if people see water gathering, they should get in touch with them to report it. The number to ring in Roads Service is 7132-1600 and I would encourage everybody to make use of this.”
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