Some businesses in the Twin Towns have had their trade reduced by up to 35% since recent road upgrades started.
It is one of the claims made to local TD Thomas Pringle.
Speaking after a meeting with the Senior Executive Engineer of the National Roads Design Office in Donegal, Deputy Pringle and local Alan McMenamin were assured that the concerns of businesses were heard and that additional monitoring and communication with businesses would be more proactive.
Deputy Pringle said “The business community, staff and wider public of Ballybofey and Stranorlar were concerned about the ongoing road works in the towns.
“Many businesses have had to cut staff hours which has a knock-on effect on those staff being able to make a living and shop locally, some businesses reporting up to 35% drop in custom.”
Deputy Pringle said that having liaised with local community activist Alan McMenamin and other locals, it is evident the negative impact the roadworks are having.
He added “From the meeting, it was clear that everyone needs to know when the exact end dates are and I have been given assurances that this will be communicated directly to all affected traders by way of leaflet drop and more regular updates directly to those affected.”
Deputy Pringle said this clarification will help business plans and allow locals to know for sure what happening and when.
“I was informed that works on the bridge will not happen during peak hours so local traffic, deliveries and shopper disruption should be minimised, especially with additional school traffic, this should flow better”.
Works will continue up Donegal Road and the NRDO and Council will step up monitoring of this to ensure that the traffic flows.
Manned stop and go system will be synced between traffic lights at McClays and all other works (Donegal Road to Road House Bar) so as to reduce tailbacks in the town and affected areas and when traffic lights are operational at night Gardai have been requested to periodically monitor to stop people jumping lights which has caused some annoyance to local residents”
The Independent Dail Deputy added “I believe that things will improve somewhat, but there will be some disruption which is inevitable, but I feel we reached a consensus with the NRDO that works must finish up as quickly as possible so to minimise the impact it is having on business”.
“Some works in evening times and night is being considered in terms of final layer of tar but this will be near the end of the works and can be completed quicker”
“I will continue to liaise with the businesses, the NRDO and Donegal County Council, to monitor progress and also myself and Alan are looking at other aspects that we can explore to alleviate the impact so far”
Tags: