Damaged and dislodged road studs on a section of road between St Mark’s and Ballasalla has been blamed on an ‘agricultural roller’.

At this week’s House of Keys sitting, Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Jason Moorhouse asked Infrastructure Minister Dr Michelle Haywood how many new cats’ eyes or similar road reflectors the department has installed in the last 12 months.

Dr Haywood said the Department of Infrastructure (DoI) has installed 8,185 road studs on the island’s highway network covering approximately 80km.

Mr Moorhouse went on to raise concerns about a number of studs that have had to be replaced on the road between St Mark’s and Ballasalla.

The Minister confirmed that 164 had become dislodged and are being reinstalled by the contractor.

But she said that on the particular road he referenced, 182 studs had been damaged or were missing due to what she understands may have been caused by an ‘agricultural roller’ towed along the route. She said the damage would cost £2,000 to repair.

Manx Rock Ltd was appointed by the DoI to remove old cats’ eyes and install new centre-line reflective road studs.

The DoI previously said the cats’ eyes are generally in poor condition and have become ineffective with time.

The first area to be tackled was Fisher Hill at Gansey and a number of other roads have since had new road studs installed.

The scheme has involved the removal of about 1600 buried or defective road studs and the installation of more than 8,000 new ones on nine of the Island’s roads.

The road studs are designed and manufactured in the UK by 3M, using recycled materials and will replace the older metal type that are fixed below the surface of the carriageway.