Motorists endure road mayhem during cold snap
Lauren (6) and Naomi McCullagh (4) with Sophie King and Eoin Kelly enjoying the snow in Portmarnock.
Related Articles
MOTORISTS endured mayhem on the roads of Fingal for the second week in succession, as the cold snap left many routes treacherous and lengthened journeys by hours, despite the local authority spending more than € 8,000 a day on gritting.
Peak-time tailbacks littered the county, while many secondary and estate roads were left impassable throughout Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Despite a thaw on Sunday and Monday, the council have continued gritting and salting main roads and motorways and warned drivers to continue to be cautious.
'Fingal County Council will continue to spread salt and grit each day on 500km of roadway including the M1, N2 and M2 and N3 and M3 motorways, commuter and bus routes and access roads to Dublin Airport,' the council said.
'All drivers should continue to take care and secondary roads should not be considered safe for normal driving. 'Met Éireann has advised that freezing weather conditions and snowfalls may continue until the end of this week and council staff will remain on standby to ensure roads are passable.'
Although the main M1 and N1 routes were running as normal, other roads came to a virtual standstill, with several marathon journeys reported by motorists.
One Swords driver spent three hours returning home from the city centre, while a south city worker was in her car for four hours, travelling from Ballsbridge to Kinsealy and a third motorist took two-anda-half hours to go from Beaumont to Swords. Commuters were also affected as buses were halted on Wednesday and Thursday evening and Dart services were restricted. At the same time, all elective surgery was cancelled in Beaumont Hospital due to the traffic delays.
Elsewhere, refuse and recycling collections were cancelled in some parts of Swords and rural areas of Fingal, while library opening hours were restricted, with Garristown Library closed and the mobile service suspended.
Supermarkets experienced 'Christmas rushlike' conditions, with residents stocking up on supplies and many ran short of stock due to delivery trucks being tied up. Flights at Dublin Airport were also suspended on several occasions last week.
