ROADS across Northern Ireland have been left “in ruin” after weeks of heavy rainfall making the familiar blight of potholes even worse.
Concerned drivers and politicians in areas like Belfast, Newtownards, Bangor, Dungannon and Craigavon have all been sharing photos of roadside damage, including those facing the costly bill for repairs.
On Roden Street, situated off the Donegall Road behind Belfast City Hospital, resident Gary Hamilton said a pothole had wrecked the suspension of his car.
“This pothole is getting even bigger I reported it last Sunday morning to the Department for Infrastructure when it wrecked my shock and top mount in the car and still no one has come out to fix it,” he posted online.
“Someone is going to get badly injured or killed if this doesn’t get sorted soon, it’s filled up with water tonight and if someone is on a motorbike and doesn’t see it who knows what could happen.”
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A two-minute walk away on the Donegall Road Bridge, the DUP’s Botanic representative Darren Leighton said a large hole at a set of traffic lights had become a hazard in an area with heavy traffic.
In Bangor, the DUP’s North Down MLA Stephen Dunne warned drivers of a dangerous pothole on the Bloomfield Road South near the Balloo Road.
“I have chased this up again with DFI Roads Senior Official today pushing for urgent action,” he said.
Posting a picture of two potholes from the Hardford Link road in Newtownards, resident Sam Carson told the Irish News he faced a £300 repair bill on Tuesday when his wife’s car tyre was split in two places, requiting a new tyre and a full wheel alignment.
Having submitted a claim to DFI, he said he was told it could take up to four months to process.
Elsewhere in north Down, Ulster Unionist councillor Philip Smith for Strangford spoke on Tuesday of the “awful state” of the Beechvale and Whiterock Roads in Killinchy.
“The existing potholes and degraded carriageway has been made much worse by poor temporary patching on recent sewer works,” he said.
“DfI have confirmed potholes will be made safe today with permanent patching to be carried out next week.”
In Dungannon, SDLP councillor Malachy Quinn said that residents were sick of seeing “roads in ruin”.
“While it’s great to see that work is finally taking place on Kanes Rampart, it’s clearly only a patch job,” he said on Monday.
“We have potholes on nearly every major and minor road in the area. Ferry Road is as bad as ever, the hole on the Washingbay/Doon Anvenue has opened up again, Drummurrer Lane is covered in them, the Annaghmore Road is breaking springs and rims everywhere day, It’s simply not good enough.
“While I accept it’s winter and we see these problems most at this time of year, there is no excuse for these defects to be reappearing and it shows a major problem with DFI and their approach to repairs.”
During the summer, he had also highlighted the problem of a “pot monster” on the Ferry Road and was able to climb into it up to his waist.
In Cookstown, resident Niall McAleer warned fellow road users of a huge pothole submerged in a puddle on the Drumenny Road.
The Department for Infrastructure said it had been operating in a challenging budgetary position for some time “and this has had an impact on road maintenance activities and the overall condition of the road network”.
“In compliance with departmental policy, only the highest priority defects are currently being repaired and unfortunately some defects will not be repaired until they meet the required intervention level,” a spokesperson said.
“Northern Ireland experienced the wettest October in over 153 years of records which caused severe damage to some roads and we have been progressing repairs as quickly as possible subject to available resources Regular inspections of the road network are also continuing and defects which meet the intervention level will be taken forward for repair.”
Last month, the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that £8.3bn of funding saved by scrapping part of the HS2 rail project would be used to tackle the “scourge of potholes” in England, although councils there have stated the true cost is more likely closer to £14bn.
