Tackling Nenagh’s ‘Red’ roads

Tipperary Co Council will next year begin tackling some of the worst roads in the county as part of a new policy recently agreed between councillors and the executive.

In its 2022-2024 Roadworks Programme, the council will be concentrating on roads rated 1-4 in the national Pavement Surface Condition Index (PSCI). These are roads identified as having extensive structural distress and being in need of structural overlay or complete reconstruction.

Tipperary ranks towards the bottom of a national league of local authorities in terms of the condition of roads. Nenagh Municipal District, which includes the Lower Ormond area, has a larger portion of 4 ratings than any other district in the county.

The council will be repairing some of these routes in the next three-year programme as part of a new “money will follow the patient” policy, which covers Regional Local Primary and Regional Local Secondary routes, but does not extend to National or Tertiary infrastructure. While the Red roads are predominantly in rural areas, any urban sections that fall into this state of disrepair will also be prioritised.

Senior Engineer with the council James Murray said Tipperary's entire roads network is surveyed every two years. The Nenagh and Thurles districts are being surveyed this year.

Mr Murray said people can check their road number on Google Maps to see how sections are rated. Orange routes (those with a PSCI rating of 5 or 6) require surface restoration; Blue routes (7 or 8) need rescaling and restoration of skid resistance, while Green roads (9 or 10) require only routine maintenance, according to the Pavement Surface Condition Index.