Gritting lorry salting the roads

ROAD CHIEFS spent almost £1 million in the last winter gritting the roads within Belfast CIty Council’s boundary line.

Figures disclosed today at a council Town Planning Meeting reveal that 8,534 tonnes of gritting salt was scattered on Belfast roads this past winter during 51 call outs as temperatures dropped.

And that works out at around £16,700 per call out to the Road Services’s Eastern Division which looks after Belfast.

City Fathers were told that within Belfast City Council boundary line there are:

* 544 miles of roads;

* 941 of footpaths;

* 161 bridges;

* 35,000 street lights;

* £4.5 million was spent retaining street lights;

* 35 car parks with almost 2,700 spaces.

* £10.6 million was spent on maintaing the roads within Belfast

* and Road Service repaired almost 70,000 defects in the roads.

The figures were disclosed by officials from the Department of Regional Development at a special committe meeting.

Officials said the new bus lanes, which caused initial traffic snarl ups for commuters, was now “w0rking well”.

There are plans to extend the bus lane from Belfast City Centre corridor out to the Holywood Road in east Belfast.