A DONEGAL County Councillor has called for roadworks to be carried out at night to minimise disruption to road users, though the council has cautioned that night time works come with added challenges and costs.
In his motion tabled at Monday’s plenary council meeting, Cllr Fionán Bradley suggested that road works on main roads and arterial routes in particular should take place over night.
“I’m not calling for all roadworks to be carried out at night, but only those that are going to cause absolutely massive disruption or worsen an emergency,” Cllr Bradley said.
In response, the council’s Director of Roads and Transportation, Bryan Cannon, said roadworks involve a compromise between getting the work done safely and efficiently, while also mitigating disruption to motorists and road users.
Mr Cannon outlined that night time roadworks would require additional pre-planning, resources and procedures compared to daytime works.
“Although the risk of encountering high traffic flows are reduced by working during the night, other factors, such as poor driver behaviour, higher speeds, fatigue, difficulty in judging distances and limited vision, increase the risk of working during the night,” he said.
Working during the hours of darkness may also make quality control of the works more difficult and require additional safety measures, which in turn increase costs.
“Therefore, with the same amount of budget available, less work will get done,” Mr Cannon added.
Regarding emergency vehicles being delayed by traffic congestion caused by roadworks, Mr Cannon explained that council roads staff is trained and protocols are in place to ensure emergency vehicles can pass through as quickly as possible.
