Among other priorities will be the re-surfacing of a section of the Dun-more Road — from Powerscourt to Orphan’s Bar. Waterford City Council fared best of all the local authorities in the country in terms of its percentage increase in non-national road grants announced last weekend by the Minister for the Environment, Noel Dempsey. The total allocation for this year will be € 4,619,482, which represents a 71% increase on the € 2,698,193, which was allocated in 2001. Included in the overall figure for this year is approximately € 2m. for the commencement of work on the Outer Ring Road and € 702,000 for the Air-port and Dunmore Roads.

Waterford Co. Council is to receive a total non-national road grant of € 9,166,894 which is a 5% increase on the € 8,737,769 allocated last year. While the city seems to have fared better than the county in terms of per-centage increases, the allocations are generally based on major road proj-ects in the pipeline and in the case of the city the Outer Ring Road is a major player for funding. Tom Mackey, Director of Roads and Infrastructure with the City Council, said that 1.1 kilometres of the Airport Road would be improved — some of which would involve the widening of the existing road and some which would be totally new road running at the back of Cill St. Laurence Church on the Killure Road.

Some years ago the Compulsory Purchase Orders were made and, according to Tom Mackey, the land owners will be contacted in the coming weeks regarding the purchase of the land. Meanwhile, it is also hoped to have the Compul-sory Purchase Orders and the Environmental Impact Study for the Outer Ring Road ready in a matter of weeks. Depending on whether or not there are objections or appeals, work may be ready to begin by the end of the year.

Announcing the grant allo-cations, the Minister said that the grants he was pro-viding to Waterford Co. Council would enable work continue on the Restoration Programme which aimed, by the end of 2005, to restore all local and regional roads in Co. Waterford which were identified as deficient. “It will also finance many other road improvements in the county in 2002. € 5.601m has been allocated in 2002 for the Restoration programme compared to the 1997 allocation of € 2.892m,” said the Minister.

Speaking following the announcement, Minister of State, Martin Cullen said that the grant allocations dispelled the notion that the government would not be meeting their commitment under the National Devel-opment Plan. “Urban roads continue to be a priority for this Gov-ernment and I will ensure that the roads in Waterford are restored to cater for the increased volume of traffic, for the benefit of everyone in the city and county,” concluded Minister Cullen. Deputy Brendan Kenneally also welcomed the announcement and said that included in the allocation to the Co. Council was € 611,505 for phase four of the Tramore Ring Road which would help to open up new areas for development as well as improving access to existing housing schemes.

“The R652 between Bawnfune and Tramore has also received additional funding of € 437,454,” the Fianna Fail TD remarked. Dungarvan Town Council receives € 240,000 — an 11% increase on their 2001 grant allocation. € 150,000 of that money will go towards carriageway and footpath repairs in the Town Council’s adminis-trative area.