Trucks and floods blamed for damage on Ardmore road

The Bigwood Road in Ardmore has a history of serious flooding. Last year the Sentinel reported how the rural road more resembled a river than a public thoroughfare following torrential rain and flash flooding in Ardmore.

But residents now say the commencement of construction at two new Wind Farms in the area has resulted in a daily train of lorries which is pounding the road to pieces and along with flash flooding has turned sections of the road to rubble.

They say the increased traffic, combined with the torrential downpours experienced last week, has resulted in the road being literally ripped to pieces in sections.

Local resident John Henry says the road is in its worst state of disrepair in three quarters of a century.

"I've never seen the road as bad in my life and I'm 79-years-of-age," said Mr Henry. "The problem is arising through a combination of the flooding and the fact that the road has hundreds of thousands of tonnes of material coming up it now with the construction going on at the Wind Farm."

The former DUP councillor said he believes there would be little utility in relaying the road completely until construction of the Curryfree facility is completed.

"There is no sense in doing the road now because it's going to be wrecked again," he said. "When they are finished building the wind farm they will have to redo the road completely."

DUP Alderman Maurice Devenney believes the onset of winter is likely to worsen the road's condition.

"At the end of the day this road should have been surveyed and brought up to a standard to support the heavy lorries using it," he commented.

"We are coming up to the winter season when things are likely to get worse and people are disgusted with the situation," he added.

Responsibility for maintenance of the road lies with the Wind Farm developer RES for the duration of construction works at the site.

A spokeswoman for the firm said it would continue to work closely with Roads Service in monitoring the condition of the road.

She explained: "As the Bigwood Road is currently being used by construction traffic for Curryfree and Slieve Kirk Wind Farms, which are being constructed by RES and SSE Renewables respectively, both companies worked with Roads Service to repair the road as quickly as possible to minimise disruption for road users."

But the firm pointed out that the flash flooding was not confined to roads in use by the Wind Farm developers.

"Other roads in the area, which are not being used by wind farm traffic, were also impacted by the torrential rain. The Bigwood Road was approved as the construction traffic route for both wind farms by Planning Service and Roads Service, through the planning permissions granted in May 2008 and February 2009," the spokeswoman stated.

"Construction of the wind farms began in August 2010. As conditions of the planning permissions, RES and SSE Renewables are carrying out daily inspections of the road, carrying out repairs where necessary on an ongoing basis, and reporting weekly to Roads Service.

"This process will continue throughout the construction periods, to ensure that the condition of the road is maintained as well as possible for all road users," she added.

Roads Service said it had taken the decision to close a section of the Bigwood Road last week due to it being made impassable through the flooding.

A Roads Service spokesperson said: "Roads Service and Rivers Agency staff were deployed to the area. Risk of flooding to some houses in the area was averted by the use of sandbags.

"A decision was taken to close the Bigwood Road from its junction with the Drum Road to the Forge Road as it had become impassable.

"Roads Service has been working closely with the contractor constructing the Slieve Kirk Wind Farm who has temporary responsibility for the maintenance of this road. "

Roads Service said remedial works were implemented to repair the damage caused to the road surface.

Mr Henry suggested the implementation of a temporary speed restriction whilst work was ongoing given the problems posed by a steady throughput of heavy goods vehicles along such a narrow section of road.

But Roads Service said they believed additional speed restrictions would not be necessary.

"Additional passing bays have been constructed to ease the passing of vehicles. Providing that all drivers use appropriate speed for the prevailing road conditions, Roads Service does not consider a temporary speed restriction appropriate at this time," a spokesperson explained.

SDLP councillor Brenda Stevenson said: "People living in this area are anxious about the potential damage that these floods could have on their properties.

"Every time there is heavy rain they experience this flooding which can sometimes rise to over a foot in height.

"This flooding has being going on for years now and people are very frustrated at the lack of long term strategic planning by DRD Road Services to tackle this problem."