Local roads issues tackled

He said that he has asked contractors if road closures in some of these areas were necessary after one motorist insisted that not enough warning signs were placed while some roads were being closed unecessarily.

The motorist said that he travelled three miles along the Clarehill Road near Hillsborough recently before he discovered that the Ballygowan Road was closed due to an upgrade on the water infrastructure.

“Instead of making you drive three miles before you are told that a road is closed they should be placing warning signs along the Clarehill Road so you know that the Ballygowan Road is closed and you have the opportunity to turn back,” he said. “It is only when you drive right to the end of the road before you find that the road is closed. It is very infuriating.

“There are no signs or notices about the road closure. I was driving behind two 40 foot lorries who had real problems trying to reverse because of the road closure.

“Gates of a field had to be opened to allow them to turn round to come back again.

“If there had been signs then there would not be this problem. It just adds confusion and unecessary problems on the roads.”

He went onto say, “Travelling down the Waterloo Road is a disgrace too.

“I was nearly clipped when someone tried to dodge one of the potholes.“I have complained about the roads and infrastructure to councillors and all you hear is that there is no money to fix the roads.

“Sometimes I have found that roads are closed unecessarily and that there are no-one working on them.

“Before these schemes started we had been told that there would be plenty of signage and traffic management would be in place throughout the scheme.”

Councillor Alexander Redpath said that he has been contacted by residents over this issue.

“I would like to thank the driver for bringing this to my attention,” Mr Redpath said. “I have contacted the relevant authorities to advise them that their contractors are behaving in this manner. Road closures impact upon all the people living in the area and any disruption has to be minimised.

“My experience of this process has always been very positive however when failings occur these must be acted upon swiftly.”