Assessments will be carried out on the Mountain Road to decide if work will be needed before the start of the TT Race at the end of May.

No additional work on the course is planned at the moment, a Department of Infrastructure spokesman told iomtoday, and initial inspections suggested any damage was minimal with only minor maintenance needed.

The Mountain Road reopened to two-way traffic more than 10 days after it was closed by drifts several feet deep, but motorists were warned to look out for animals freed by broken fencing.

Highways director Richard Pearson told iomtoday he thought the road surface was unlikely to have suffered any significant damage as this was usually caused by the continual freezing and thawing of water which can enter cracks in the road and force them apart causing the surface to break up.

This was the type of damage which affected the Jurby South road circuit in 2010 leaving the road too badly damaged to be accepted by the ACU as fit for racing any more.

Preparations for the TT, which involve putting up signs and placing straw bales and recticel impact absorbing barriers in position have already begun but Shaun Counsell who is the ACU course inspection officer, said they were having to tackle the preparations in a different sequence because snow had restricted access to certain areas.

Mr Counsell said:

’Some of the areas we usually leave until last we are having to do now so we can keep to schedule. Some of the areas have been restricted by snow at the road side and the mountain has been closed so nothing could be done up there.

‘Instead we have had to put bales and barriers in place that we normally leave until last to minimise disruption to pedestrians, for example.

‘We have been trying to find areas where they can set up so we don’t fall behind. We have a schedule so the course can be checked and signed off in time for the first practices.’

An additional problem over the mountain was that the heavy snow fall had brought down fences in places allowing livestock to escape on to the road and this again would need to be addressed, he said.

Gary Thompson, clerk of the course, for the TT Races said they continually monitored the quality of the road around the Mountain Course and had completed numerous laps in the past year in an inspection car.

It is within the power of the ACU not to issue a course licence should the road not be up to scratch for racing.

He said they also took along experienced Mountain Course competitors like Conor Cummins, John Barton and Richard Milky Quayle for expert advice on the state of the road. He said the road would undergo a thorough safety assessment by them before the start of racing.

Several areas are to be resurfaced before the TT, namely the approach to Parliament Square in Ramsey, the exit from Creg-ny-Baa, Bedstead and the approach to the Jubilee Oak at Braddan Bridge.

Mr Thompson said extra recticel barriers were to be used at Governor’s Bridge and Glen Tramman.




John Turner


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