Updated: Wednesday, 27th January, 2010 4:50pm

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Warning that ice-damaged roads could cause a fatality

by Ann Casey

Giant potholes render many rural routes almost impassable

Cllr Shane McEntee points out a crater-like pothole on the Donore Road.

A warning that lives will be lost because of the appalling condition of some of Meath's roads has been issued by public representatives and motorists around the county this week.

Road conditions in Meath have deteriorated rapidly since the recent Arctic weather conditions and, with little funds available to Meath County council for repairs, fears have been expressed that the giant potholes and crumbling rural roads across the county will result in fatalities.

The N52 Ardee to Kells road, part of the heavily trafficked main road from Dundalk to the west, is a cause for major concern with 'cater-like' potholes, particularly around Mandistown and Drumconrath.

Road in the Skryne/Rathfeigh area, Donore, Castletown and Walterstown have also been singled out for criticism, although motorists say that roads all over the county are in a terrible state.

Meath County Council spokesman Bill Sweeney said that the council is still compiling figures for damage to roads during the icy spell and it would be two more weeks before the council got word on its road allocation for 2010.

He said the council would not be paying compensation for cars damaged by roads that had deteriorated because of the icy spell.

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey has said that there will be no extra allocation of funding this year for road repairs and councils will have to work within the budgets they have.

Deputy Shane McEntee has called for an immmediate audit of roads in the county and the prioritisation of repairs to be carried out quickly. He pointed out that 30 per cent of fatal road accidents could be attributed to poor road conditions.

"People hit potholes and damage their cars without realising it, leading to an accident further along the road and then there are cases of cars hitting potholes in the dark, having blow-outs. There is no doubt the appalling conditions will lead to road deaths," he warned.

The condition of the N52 at Mandistown, Drumconrath, is causing huge concern for local residents who fear they will witness a tragedy on their doorstep before long.

One local man said he had helped a large number of people who had been involved in pothole-related accidents near his home.

"It is very serious. There are some huge potholes here and at night, drivers cannot see them and are hitting them at speed. We are just worried that, some day, somebody will hit a pothole, lose control and suffer fatal injuries," said the local resident, who did not want to be named.

"I changed 11 wheels on one Saturday for women who had damaged wheels in potholes and I helped three people in just one night," he added. "This is an extremely busy road with a huge volume of heavy traffic and lorries on it. It is no good just filling in potholes; within a few hours, they are as bad as ever again," he said.

Nobber woman Pauline Mulligan had the frightening experience of hitting a massive pothole on the Navan-Nobber road at Castletown recently. "I couldn't avoid it as there was a car coming towards me. I had seen the pothole and had slowed down, but it damaged my wheel," she said.

Ms Mulligan said that she was lucky there was a garage nearby, otherwise she would have been stuck there, as the entire wheel was damaged, not just the tyre. She said if somebody unfamiliar with the road had hit that pothole in the dark, it could have been much worse.

"I was driving slowly because I had seen the potholes. If someone driving at normal speed hit it, they could have suffered very serious damage and there could be a very serious collision," she went on.

Deputy McEntee called on the Government to provide additional funding for the restoration of severely damaged local and regional roads and to minimise costly reconstruction costs caused by further deterioration. He said the method of filling potholes with gravel and tar had been proven to be a waste of time. "Long-term repairs with tarmacadam need to be carried out," he said.

Senator Dominic Hannigan was critical of Transport Minister Noel Dempsey's "short-sighted" decision not to provide local authorities with extra funding to repair weather damaged roads.

"County Meath is under serious pressure to make its current budget last. Local authorities need extra resources from central Government to cope with these extraordinary weather conditions. They can't raise such funds through rates. Council incomes have been considerable reduced because of the effect of the recession on businesses and rates," he said.

"I believe Minister Dempsey is being short-sighted in his decision not to allocate extra funding to councils to help them restore roads damaged by frost, ice and flooding," he said.

Cllr Francis Deane said he, too, was appalled a the state of roads around Meath and, in particular, the Harristown Road near Navan's new reservoir which was in a particularly bad condition.

He also mentioned roads at Balrath, Garlow Cross and Walterstown as being in a dangerous state. "I am calling on the Government to provide funding to the council to carry out these necessary repairs," he said.