Most Irish motorists don't even talk about them any more, but our pot-holesare still out there doing damage every day of the week. Brian Byrne reviews the situation.
Last month's announcement of funds for repair of non-national roads reveals that, despite an 80 per cent increase in funding on five years ago, it will pay for less than half the quantity of roads repaired in 1998. Yet another example of the holy grail that is value for money.
In Ireland, pot-holes don't exist - at least, not in the National Roads Authority's vocabulary. A search of the NRA website fails to unearth one mention of this common feature on most Irish roads. There is, however, a reference to "surface distress".
"Surface distress" is the cause of much deeper distress to the State's 1.7 million motorists, who endure driving conditions that can cause them pain, raised blood pressure and can cost them millions of euros in unnecessary repairs to "distressed" suspension systems and wheels.
And it's not going to get significantly better, if a comparison of value for money from road allocations five years apart indicates. The inflation of costs in roadbuilding - far ahead of the national inflation level - calls into question ministerial claims that road repair work is at an all-time record.
In 1998, then Minister for the Environment, Noel Dempsey, reported that 18 per cent of non-national roads needed surface restoration, and a full third of them needed full reconstruction. At a time when the future looked nothing but bright, the Minister said: "It's not acceptable that the Celtic Tiger is still forced in many areas to tiptoe around potholes and disintegrating pavements, with sore paws, rather than being free to bound ahead."
It was estimated to cost just under €1 billion to rectify the problem in a 10-year programme and Mr Dempsey committed the then Government to achieving this by 2005. He allocated almost €352 million for non-national roads upkeep in 1998, some 2.5 times the level of what had been spent five years earlier. Of this just over €118 million was allotted to improving the road surfaces that year.
Yet last month the current Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Martin Cullen, was back announcing yet another investment programme, this time "the highest ever State grant provision for non-national roads", at €434 million.
Within the allocation, just over €213 million is being set to the 2003 restoration programme, 80 per cent more than in the 1998 spend. But, while the 1998 restoration programme was able to improve or restore around 8,400 kms of the nation's deficient roads that year, its equivalent allocation for 2003 will improve or restore only about 3,836 kms.
While the NRA is not directly responsible for dealing with pot-holes, it does provide each local authority with a specific sum towards the upkeep of national roads going through their areas. Most local authorities will tell you it's nothing close to what they need to keep the 5,400 kms of national routes up to standard - never mind the 126,000 km of non-national roads.
That said, it's true that the main roads are probably the best-kept of our whole network, against a background of massive increases in traffic, both of cars and heavy vehicles. For both urban and rural motorists, and passengers in cars and in public transport, much of the real suffering is endured on the non-national regional and local roads.
So, when a motorist finds a pot-hole, he or she can dial POTHOLE on their phone, and the situation will be responded to immediately if it's an emergency, or within 48 hours otherwise. Or, using the Internet, a direct e-mail link to the Engineering Department will allow the complainant to give a complete description of the pot-hole (or any other surface problem), with a commitment to a quick response.
Things are looking up? They are - if you live in Baltimore or Houston in the US, where those two examples of public service diligence came from. In Baltimore, they even count the number of pot-holes fixed each year, and the cost works out at about $6 a hole. The city's mayor also signed a "Pot-hole Pledge" in 1998, detailing the "nitty gritty" of how the things would be dealt with and how quickly. Maybe it's driven by the litigious nature of society in America?
Yet, the average Irish citizen has a fondness for court proceedings, if the insurance industry is anything to go by. But it's hard to get a handle on how often, or how much is paid out in pot-hole cases here.
Kildare is a particular "victim" to the pot-hole syndrome because of the rapid development in the county over the past decade, with massive increases in local traffic and heavy vehicles servicing building sites. About 80 per cent of the territory of Ireland is linked to Dublin by roads which pass through Kildare, so it's a council that is very conscious of the difficulties.
Whether a hole is dealt with depends on a number of factors, including the question of funds specifically earmarked for general restoration work on that particular road.
"The reason the pot-hole occurred is another factor," says Kildare Co Council spokesman Charlie Talbot. "Many of them happen just after the winter because of weather stresses, but there could also be an underlying problem with the road construction which would be a much larger job."
A heavy goods vehicle (HGV) does much more damage to a surface than its equivalent weight in cars, and councils must weigh up whether or not to deal with a local situation depending on the stage of the particular development causing the problems. Meantime, we are far from having a hot-line to have a pot-hole fixed (as in New York, which is still considered to be the top pot-hole city and where you can dial the pot-hole hot-line . . . and hope for the best).
In Ireland, a report of a problem will typically first be transferred to a council's roads department, then to the local area engineer's office for assessment, perhaps in tandem with the local council overseer. After that there will be deliberations about priorities. It's not exactly instant, which is why pot-hole questions are far too well represented in the questions from local councillors throughout the country.
It used to be better. In the 1940s and 1950s, farmers earned valuable winter incomes by contracting to local councils to keep water drains on the roadside clear, making it much less likely that lying water would damage road edges. And in the 19th century, landowners were paid to completely maintain any roads that passed through or around their land. Then somebody invented the motor car, and things have been going downhill ever since, some would say. It's all very distressing - on the surface and under it.