Fresh calls have been made for a “permanent solution” to be found in a bid to improve safety at a busy pedestrian bridge in Portadown which poses real dangers during winter weather.
The footbridge – known locally as the ‘Red Bridge’ – connects Atkinson Avenue and West Street.
But according to one local representative, it is an annual problem which he has raised “every winter that I’ve been on council”.
DUP Councillor Kyle Moutray seized on the opportunity to flag the issue once more as DfI Roads officials attended October’s meeting of ABC Council.
And he did so after attending an interagency meeting in Portadown and in response to concerns raised during an estate inspection at Edgarstown.
“Every winter, this presents a reoccurring public safety problem,” explained Councillor Moutray. “The bridge’s sloping surface becomes extremely slippery during freezing conditions and it’s a problem that’s compounded by poor drainage on the bridge itself.
“Hundreds of people use this bridge every day – this could be children, pensioners, wheelchair users – and I have genuine concerns that, without a permanent solution here, someone could suffer a serious injury as a result of a fall throughout winter.”
The DUP councillor said he had raised the issue before and been told the footbridge cannot be added to the winter gritting arrangement because it’s a footway.
Councillor Moutray described the Red Bridge as a “large footway”, spanning around 100 feet in length, and the current situation was that “people actually go out and grit that with the grit boxes that are provided”.
But he added: “Given the size, given the amount of people that use it, I think it needs a permanent solution.
“So if it can’t be added to the winter gritting arrangement, I would ask that serious consideration could be given to another option, and that could be something like installing permanent anti-slip surfacing, something like that to improve traction and to protect pedestrians during freezing conditions.
“It continues to be a problem and I would like to see a solution to that.”
Divisional Roads Manager Cindy Noble confirmed that DfI did not grit footways.
But elaborating further before offering some hope, she added: “What we do do is assess the location and provide salt bins on a self-help business. I’m not overly familiar with the location, but you do say that there’s salt bins provided there for people to help themselves.
“I take the point in relation to looking at the surfacing and that’s something that we can consider and we’ll come back to you on that one.”
