Road Transportation and Safety

How Budget is Spent

Payroll - €1,039,807
Operational - €2,135,680
Administration - €0
Establishment - €0
Financial - €0
Miscellaneous - €0

Sources of Funding

State Grant and Subsidies - €991,680
Goods and Services - €2,033,000
Rates - €100,572
Local Government Fund - €50,235

Introduction

The Public Road Network within the Borough of Sligo is divided into three categories as follows:

• National Primary Roads(N4, N15, N16) -  7.18km
• Regional (Main) Roads - 8.22km
• Urban Roads - 60.0km

Road Upkeep

National Primary Road Maintenance

The National Roads Authority, through Sligo County Council, fund all maintenance works on National Roads. Sligo Borough Council’s allocation for 2008 is €112,480.

Major Urban Roads

Urban Road general maintenance is funded from Sligo Borough Council’s own resources. The allocation for 2008 is being increased to €742,500.

Regional Roads

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government fund maintenance on Regional Roads through Sligo County Council. The 2008 allocation is €184,200.

Public Lighting

It is proposed to increase the 2008 allocation to €405,000 to reflect increased costs. This allocation is used for the maintenance, repair and upgrading of public lights in the Borough. This increase is to meet additional electricity costs and expanded coverage associated with Taking-in-Charge of housing estates.

Road Improvement

Road improvement works are funded by grant allocation from National Roads Authority and the Department of Transport. The 2008 allocations will be announced in February 2008.

Discretionary Block Grant for Urban Roads

Work conducted using this grant in 2007 included a variety of improvements ranging from road resurfacing, road widening, traffic calming, new footpath improvement and pedestrian crossings. Specific proposal for 2008 will be presented to the Borough Council early in 2008 when the Department of Transport will announce allocations.

Discretionary Block Grant for Carriageway/Footpath Restoration on Urban Roads

This grant is specifically for carriageway and footpath restoration. Together with the Borough Council’s own allocations significant progress has been made in improving footpath and road surface quality in recent years.  Improvement works in 2007 have been carried out in areas throughout the city. The above works incorporated Road-Resurfacing, Traffic Calming and Footpath Works. It is hoped that an increased allocation in 2008 will enable these works to continue. Specific proposals will be brought before the Borough Council in 2008.

Specific Improvement Grant(SIG) For Non-National Roads

The DoT Grant is available for specific, regional road, projects. Sligo Borough Council has succeeded in achieving grant allocations under this heading in recent years, and major improvement works are being carried out on the R291 Strandhill Road and the R286 Hazelwood Rd.

Improvement Grants on National Roads

Improvement works carried out in 2007 are as follows; N4 Low Cost Accident and Remedial Schemes €90,000

Further applications are pending and will be announced early in 2008.

Road Improvements Major Schemes – Inner Relief Road

This project was funded by the National Roads Authority. The Inner Relief Road has greatly improved traffic management in the Town Centre.

Road Traffic

Car Parking

The changeover to a Parking Meter System from the Parking Discs system took place in 2007. The changeover is more efficient and convenient for customers. The meters accept various forms of payment and are located in close proximity to parking areas. To further improve the parking environment, the minimum charge period for on-street parking will be reduced to 20 minutes in 2008.

It is also proposed to extend all day parking charges to some of the outlying areas where the one-hourly rate currently applies. The areas under review are Church Hill, Pearse Road, Finisklin and The Mall.

It also proposed to commence the removal of illegally parked vehicles in the Market Yard Car Park on Fridays and Saturdays. Traders have complained that their livelihood is being threatened as their paid up trading bays are regularly occupied by illegally parked vehicles and despite strict enforcement of Car Parking Bye Laws, the problem, although reduced, persists.

Administration and Miscellaneous

The salaries of staff within the Roads section and the refund of opening road deposits are paid from subprogramme 2.