Cork County Council has purchased two new, 32-tonne tar sprayers as part of an investment in its Roads Maintenance Fleet.

The new tar sprayers, which are used for surface dressing and sealing road strengthening operations, will replace the council's older fleet that has been in operation for over 20 years.

They will be based in the Council Machinery Yards in Mallow serving North and East Cork and in Skibbereen serving West Cork.

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Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Christopher O’Sullivan commented: "It is great to see Cork County Council continuing to invest in fleet replacement and new technologies to increase efficiency in delivery of one of its core services - that is ensuring the more than 12,000 kms of roadway across the county, making up 12.5% of the entire national network, is maintained to a safe and high standard."

The modern, state-of-the-art machines keep tar at an optimum temperature of 85°C for surface dressing, with each tank fully insulated and equipped with oil fired burners for onsite heating and an extendable spray bar reaching up to 4.5m to facilitate operations on roads of differing widths. The new tar sprayers are expected to boost the Council's road operations during the season from February to November.

The new tar sprayers have a life expectancy of 20-30 years.

(CM/JG)