School footpaths and cycle lanes will not be salt gritted

CONDITIONS are treacherous as temperatures plunge to below zero this week, and South Dublin County Council provides winter treatment to 300km of roads.

However, the council does not have the capacity to grit footpaths outside the near 140 schools or the 200km of cycle infrastructure across the county.

The winter maintenance plan for roads includes salt gritting of 300km of primary and secondary routes to aid in safe travel during icy conditions.

In severe weather events such as when there is heavy snowfall, the priority of the council is to treat the 300km of national, regional and local primary roads.

The 300km road network are prioritised as they ensure the delivery of goods and services.

Once this network has been treated, the authority targets the local distributor network areas near schools and community amenities, which is around 150km of additional roads.

Additionally, salt storage bins can be found in strategic local locations where conditions have been icy in previous years and where gritting is impractical.

These rock salt storage bins are provided at 56 locations around the county with the goal of enabling residents to spread salt on these particularly problematic areas, such as sharp inclines.

However, in an update in January, the council stated that it has “five on street salt bins at key locations”.

At the January meeting of South Dublin County Council, the authority stated that “there is no capacity to grit footpaths” at the 140 schools in its catchment area.

“Following the recent freezing weather we are now reviewing the number and locations of these salt bins with a view to providing more salt bins across the County including at local schools,” the authority said.

Separately, when responding to a question posed by Cllr Lyn Hagin Meade, the council stated that is has no intention of including cycle lanes in its winter maintenance plan.

“SDCC’s current cycle infrastructure is 200km and varies from on road cycle tracks to greenways and these are not currently treat cycle tracks nor do we have any equipment to do so,” it said.

“If cycle tracks were to be treated it would require a very significant alteration to our current operating procedures and also need a large investment in plant and resources.

“The expansion of our winter maintenance to incorporate cycle tracks is not currently proposed within existing resources.

“However, as the Council continues to deliver improved segregated cycle lanes we will review options for how best to carry out both general and winter maintenance of these.”