Page 76 - Donegal CC An Rpt 19

Donegal County Council Annual Report 2019
Winter Service
The Council operates a large scale winter gritting operation that sees 1,030 km of public roads routinely treated from mid October to the end of April each year. This 1,030 km is divided into 21 separate routes. There are in excess of 120 council staff involved in the winter service operation and these include drivers, helpers, engineers, fitters, Roads Overseers, Health & Safety Officer, etc. In 2019 the cost of this service was approx. €1.71m.
Major Road Projects
In excess of €2m of funding was secured from DTTaS in 2019 for some online widening and strengthening of the R232 Laghy - Pettigo Road. Approx. €800,000 was spent on this work in 2019.
August 2017 Flood Damage Repair
Repair work to road assets damaged during the extreme floods in August 2017 continued in 2019 with a spend in excess of €1.6m.
Repair of Flood Damage - Swan Park, Buncrana
Parks Maintenance
In 2019 the Council spent €1.25m maintaining public parks and open spaces in the county. Examples of the parks and open spaces maintained during 2019 were McGlinchey Town Park, Ballymacool Park, Moville Green, Barrack Hill in Carndonagh and the Bundoran Shorefront.
Invasive Alien Plant Species
The Council has been running a treatment programme for Japanese Knotweed along public roads since 2015. In excess of 950 individual roadside infestations were treated in 2019. Giant Hogweed infestations were added to the treatment programme for the first time in 2019.
Pay and Display Car Parking
The Council operates a Pay & Display Car Parking services in a number of towns in the county. The €1.15m in income from this service helped fund staffing and other fixed costs associated with the pay parking operation and also helped fund other works within the towns in which the monies were collected.
Reconstruction of Bridge Destroyed in the August 2017 Flood in Inishowen MD