A stretch of road on the outskirts of Armagh city has begun to sink on both sides leaving it “almost impassable”… with one resident of the area saying Roads Service are “ignoring all pleas for assistance”.
The resident who lives in one of around seven homes on the Killylea Road – a B-road off the Cormeen Road – says the issue began when a tree fell during the last bad storm.
He explained that when the tree blew down it “took part of the road surface with it” and then – with traffic prioritising the far side of the road – the wear and tear has left that portion now subsiding too.
Such is the damage to the surface that there is now “barely room for a car to pass”, says the resident.
A relative of the man also “burst a tyre” on the damaged section just this week.
He says the people living along the road have all contacted the Department for Infrastructure requesting this portion of the road be urgently repaired, however, within the last two months he says they have only called out to “spraypaint white lines” around the area affected but no resurfacing work has taken place.
A Department for Infrastructure spokesperson acknowledged the site visit, commenting: “The Department has recently carried out an assessment of the U8665 off the Killylea Road, Armagh, in line with our Limited-Service maintenance policy.”
However, they remain tight-lipped on timescale for repair, adding: “The Department has added identified defects to our repair schedule for completion as soon as resources permit and it will also be considered for inclusion in a future resurfacing works programme, subject to the availability of funding.
“The public can report potholes via the NIDirect at: nidirect.gov.uk/services/report-pothole-or-other-surface-defect.”
