A LETTERBREEN woman has spoken of her “disgust” after she suffered two flat tyres due, she believes, to the the ongoing resurfacing scheme on the Sligo Road in Enniskillen.
A frustrated Tasha Doogan had to replace two tyres in two days this week after damaging her white Audi near the Ashwoods area after the £200,000 project got underway. 
“This was due to the diversions down minor roads,” she claims. “These roads were obviously not checked for defects or repairs that needed to be made beforehand,” Mrs. Doogan told The Impartial Reporter.
“This along with the volume of traffic especially HGV vehicles is a safety issue and an accident waiting to happen. These roads are clearly unfit for this purpose coupled with the weather and the conditions this has left them in. The lack of support and concern is totally disgusting,” she said. 
Fiona Balfour from Florencecourt has told this newspaper how she “spotted two cars both with flat tyres on the Sligo Road” while one Enniskillen man, who didn’t want to be named, suffered two punctures in two of his car’s back tyres after driving in the same area on Tuesday.
“I am at boiling point with Roads Service, “ he said. 
“This is why we pay our road tax, to keep roads in tip top condition, and here we are meeting lorries on back roads and having to drive on ditches. Roads Service should supply us with Land Rovers,” he said. 
The resurfacing work, which will run for one kilometre from the Coleshill Road to Rossorry Link Road, is expected to deliver “significant improvements” to the structural integrity and the road surface quality of the Sligo Road.
But even a short period after the work commenced on Monday motorists were expressing their annoyance at the build up of traffic going in and out of Enniskillen town centre.
Eamonn Garrity of Star Taxis was one of those motorists. 
“It’s blocking the whole thing big time,” he told The Impartial Reporter. 
“This week has been a nightmare. It’s taking 50 minutes to get from one end of the town to the other. People have been late for appointments,” he said. 
“It took me 30, 40 minutes to get back to my shop when it should have taken two, three minutes,” said businesswoman Baiba Lauze of Lough Erne Cakes, which is based on the Sligo Road.
Aine Murphy from Macken had a different view, telling this newspaper: “It gets on my goat when people complain about work being done and then complain about the state of the roads.”
“It’s an island town, what do they expect? It would be worse if they didn’t do the repairs,” she said.
Democratic Unionist Councillor for the area, Keith Elliott, said the work has caused “huge anger amongst local business owners and commuters.”
“With a Bank Holiday weekend ahead, I would call on the Roads Service to take an urgent look at how the traffic flow is being managed. A number of proposals were made by businesses, however these suggestions have been simply ignored,” he said. 
Responding to The Impartial Reporter, a Department for Infrastructure spokesperson said: “Work cannot be carried out over night as this is a semi residential area with over 50 properties within 30 metres of the road works and sleep disturbance would be inevitable.
“The signed diversion route is a B class road. Minor roads will be routinely inspected for potholes with repairs carried out as necessary. 
“A sign advising traffic that local access to the Sligo Road is permissible has been provided on the Wellington Road.”