Waterford City Council will undertake work which will relieve, but not entirely eliminate flooding on the Tramore Road between Ballindud Roundabout and the Inner Ring Road Roundabout at Superquinn.
Speaking at Monday’s monthly meeting at City Hall, City Manager Michael Walsh said the desperately needed works would significantly reduce the incidences of flooding in the area.
But no-one, he said, could give a guarantee that all flooding on the road, which runs through Kilbarry Bog, would be eradicated by the planned raising of the route.
Referring to an Office of Public Works report which proposed the complete raising of the flood-prone road, Mr Walsh said the detail now at his office’s disposal was not available to the OPW when preparing their report.
“These works will bring about a significant improvement…and I think that can only be considered as a positive,” he told Councillors.
“We’ve had considerable discussion on this issue over the past year and [the planned works] will significantly improve the situation.”
The work required to raise part of the Tramore Road would be significant, and City Management was not prepared to predict the duration of the works. “It’s not the perfect solution but it’s the best that we can come up with,” said Senior Engineer Frank Roche.
However, The Munster Express believes that the project would not run beyond six months from start to finish.
“We will certainly look to keep the disruption to an absolute minimum,” said Mr Roche. “But we wouldn’t like to put a [timeframe] figure on it at the moment.”
Mr Walsh said the works will improve access to both the Regional Sports Centre and Superquinn but that environmental considerations would be fully taken into account.
“This is an appropriate intervention,” he said. “We’re not widening the road. We’re not interfering or taking up any more of the flood plains through these works.”
Councillor David Cullinane said the planned raising of the road represented “another good news story from tonight’s meeting”.
He added: “It is important that we are upfront with the public that there will still be problems [but] this is the best that we can do so we should welcome it.”
Mr Walsh pledged to take the concerns expressed by other Councillors on the night into account, including the additional traffic that would be created on the Old Tramore Road as a result.
A recent City Council traffic survey revealed that a considerable number of vehicles travelling from Tramore are, in fact, turning left at Ballindud.
This suggests that problems on alternative inbound city routes during the raising of the Kilbarry Bog road may not prove as considerable as had been initially feared.
