MORE than 1,100 individual projects with an overall expenditure in excess of €71m took place on the regional and local roads around Cork county last year.

Cork County Council’s Director of Roads, Padraig Barrett, told a recent meeting of the Southern Committee that the quantity of work that took place on the roads last year was ‘unprecedented’.

“What happened on the roads of Cork County last year was unprecedented in terms of the level of expenditure and the quantity of work,” he said.

“There were more than 1,100 individual projects around the county in the areas of restoration improvement, restoration maintenance, drainage, footpaths, active travel, bridges, and community involvement schemes with an overall expenditure in excess of €71m,” added Mr Barrett.

“This was in excess of the grants that were made available to us at the start of 2021 and in the end, it was funded by the Department of Transport.

“I would like to thank the department for that level of funding.

The director of roads paid tribute to the team of area engineers who did “extraordinary work” during a challenging year. 

“It was a huge amount of work done on time. It was a good year overall from a regional and local roads perspective.”

Meanwhile, Mr Barrett said 30,000 lanterns are to be replaced in Cork county in the foreseeable future. “The public lighting energy efficiency project is now underway. Cork County Council is leading out the regional project on behalf of Waterford City and County Council, Limerick City and County Council, Kerry County Council, and Clare County Council. TII is a partner as well.

“There are 77,000 lanterns to be replaced at an approximate cost of €54m. We would expect to see all the lanterns changed in the region by June 30, 2024. Approximately 30,000 of the lanterns are in Cork county. The schedule will be issued by the contractor in the coming weeks.

“The good news is that Cork County Council will be first up,” he added.