SDLP Infrastructure Spokesperson Mark H Durkan said the failure to adequately address the growing number of potholes across the road network is putting road users at risk of injury or worse.
Data from CompareNI.com has shown that 110,023 recorded potholes on Northern Ireland roads in 2023, an increase of 9%.
Said the Foyle MLA: “I’ve been inundated with complaints and concerns about potholes across my constituency including the Northland Road, Victoria Road and Buncrana Road – we’re talking about the main arterial routes into the city.
“Sadly, this isn’t anything new. The shocking state of our roads has been covered ad nauseum over the past few years, it’s safe to say that they haven’t got any better. It is undoubtedly getting worse and more widespread.
“I would remind people that there is a route they can go down to claim for damage- I should forewarn that the process isn’t straightforward and only around half of last year’s compensation claims were paid out.
“The amount of compensation claims to the department demonstrates the financial risk of not carrying out its repair.
“Even more worryingly is the road safety risk and real risk of damage and danger to motorists forced to swerve to avoid oncoming potholes.
“I’ve been critical of DfI’s approach in the past, the policy which they’ve adopted sees them measuring and marking defects, often multiple times before they meet the criteria for repair.
“It seems pretty inefficient and definitely ineffective.
“Pothole clusters on roads that resemble the surface of the moon have become all too familiar, with that ‘crater-effect’, staff can only repair those which meet the requisite depth not the others, leaving repairs exposed and a near guarantee that overstretched, underpaid workers will be back out again and again to repair the same areas.
“The pennywise, pound foolish approach has exacerbated problems. That said, DfI have nowhere near enough money- their routine maintenance budge hasn’t increased in over five years.
“During that time, we’ve seen costs go bonkers as a result of Brexit supply issues and the energy crisis.
“This has been compounded by the fact that five out of the last seven years we haven’t had a government.
“If an executive was formed tomorrow potholes wouldn’t be filled with gold-dust but its absence means no financial monitoring rounds, a process which DfI has always relied on to top its budget and carry out essential work.
“It’s baseline budget has never been enough and that harkens back to when its predecessor department, the Department for Regional Development, under Danny Kennedy had its budget decimated by DUP and Sinn Féin when we did have an executive.
“Sadly, these issues aren’t exclusive to DfI – our crumbling roads are just a very visible symbol of our crumbling public services after so many years of austerity.”
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