(1) Drugs:
Eleven drivers of mechanical propelled vehicles have been arrested on suspicion of drug driving in Co. Tipperary this weekend alone. We are aware that one driver tested positive for Cocaine on Western Road, Clonmel, following a road- side test.
(2) Thurles Road Closure:
Motorists, particularly regular users of the (R498) Thurles to Nenagh road are being warned that the section at Latteragh will close (with diversians in place) from Monday August 10th 2020, for some 12 days, to facilitate action on 5 long years of debated emergency roadworks.
The council has now been given the go-ahead for a €14m realignment of the Latteragh bends area, which will involve the construction of a complete new stretch of roadway. Hopefully flora, fauna and fish residing in the nearby Nenagh River, will not bring the project to a halt on this occasaion.
(3) Thurles To Get €25,000 To Aid Town’s Economic Woes
Wow, this is actually a fact; Minister for Rural & Community Development, Ms Heather Humphreys, has announced the lodgement of some €25,000, into a fund targeting activities to encourage people back into the local town of Thurles, and to ‘shop local’, after the town centre was destroyed by Tipperary Co. Council, with the greedy introduction of parking charges.
We understand also it is intended to open a voluntary tourism office to market and promote Thurles. [Funny that; I was convinced we already had a voluntary tourism office to market to promote the area.]
Still, maybe we are to obtain a new Tourism office, one that actually attracts tourists.
One wonders what all of the rest of this vast funding will be mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted on; in a year that Liberty Square is supposed to be upgraded.
The works at Latteragh will only be reinforcing the river bank and resurfacing with chippings and watered down tar. To my knowledge they haven’t even acquired CPO for the lands needed for realignment.
You may be correct Chris, according to the Director of Services for roads in Tipp County Council, Mr Marcus O’Connor, (speaking on radio), “Essentially what’s happening is the river is undermining the road, so what we have to do is put in rock armour to reinforce the bank. There’s a sheer wall there that the road is sitting on top of, making is potentially unstable for vehicles. This could potentially fall into the river, so what we need to do is reinforce same.”