Council: We can only resurface roads every 39 years

Cork County Council should be fixing its entire 12,000km road network every 20 years but, due to government cutbacks, can only afford on average to do restrengthening once every 55 years and resurfacing once every 39 years.

The extent of the cutbacks on the upkeep of the county’s roads was revealed by council chief executive Tim Lucey yesterday during a debate about the number of claims made by motorists who had damaged their vehicles in potholes.

He told councillors that in 2008 the local authority contributed €17 million from its own coffers for the upkeep of roads and got a further €65m from government.