Road halts tourism potential

WATERFORD’S appeal as a major hub for tourism, industry and commerce is being stifled by the quality of roadway close to the regional airport, a local politician says.

The narrow roadway is being broken up on a daily basis by the number of heavy goods vehicles also now using the road since the development of an industrial park adjacent to the airport, Cllr Jim D’Arcy says.

“We are coming up to the 25th anniversary of the airport. If we are serious about being a gateway city, we must look at this road.

“People want to use our airport but we have not developed the infrastructure to support it.

“We have to ask why the county council hasn’t moved on this? The services just are not there. People want to develop the airport but this just can’t happen because of the state of the road,” he said.

Waterford County Council hopes to be in a position to get funding to upgrade the route next year. But until then, it can only carry out repairs to the many potholes on its surface.

“Last year, €336,000 was made available for the CPO process. It would cost around €8 million to do the road, which is not a serious amount of money to spend when you consider what improving the route would do for the region ... We need to address it, and fast.”

He says there was a time when Waterford was the fourth largest city. It’s now the fifth. “We will end up sixth if something is not done soon,” he warned.