Write a comment
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Councillor Joy Ferguson has welcomed strong support from Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council, as part of an all-out lobbying exercise to secure a potentially life-saving upgrade of the A1 dual carriageway from Loughbrickland to the Hillsborough junction.
The Phase 2 scheme aims to provide further safety improvements along the A1 between Hillsborough and Loughbrickland, including the provision of new grade-separated junctions, the closing up of all gaps in the central reservation and the provision of a continuous central reserve safety barrier along the whole route.
With the A1 dual carriageway still in the queue for the full upgrade scheme, the Alliance representative for Banbridge DEA explained, at an ABC full council sitting held on November 27, she was deriving some comfort from the fact the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) is considering the ‘next best thing’ – smaller upgrade schemes at particularly dangerous junctions.
This targeted approach is meant to be a temporary fix until funding is finally secured for Phase 2 of the A1 upgrade scheme to be delivered.
She stated: “I’d just like to express my thanks to Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council for their correspondence showing support for this chamber’s motion for the A1, and also to the other councils along the A1 corridor for bringing their own motions to really drive this local government effort.
“I particularly welcome the letter from DfI and the provision of an elevated position for Phase 2 of the A1 within Tier 3 of the prioritisation list, and it’s good to see that it’s going to move forward to business case finalisation and completion of contract documents.
“I really do welcome the fact that they are going to explore a more phased delivery approach to provide smaller package schemes, which would increase the opportunities for more dangerous junctions of the project to be rectified earlier.
“Junctions such as the Castlewellan Road, Old Manse Road, where in the past few weeks I’ve been contacted by residents [about] drivers doing U-turns at these junctions, and also particularly the Halfway House where Karl Heaney tragically lost his life in 2019.
“And more recently Judge Eamonn King in Banbridge Magistrates Courts commented on how far behind we are in our infrastructure investment. He actually singled out the Halfway junction as ‘notorious’.
“Funding does remain an issue and it is imperative an Executive returns as soon as possible to politically direct this project and allocate much-needed funding.”
DfI indicated their intention to prioritise smaller safety upgrades along the A1 as follows, in correspondence to the ABC Council dated November 9: “The Department is currently exploring options to deliver the project in phases through smaller packaged schemes, which would increase the opportunities for parts of the project to be delivered earlier.
“Work is progressing on this phased delivery approach, however these smaller, discrete packages would also require confirmation of funding before they could be procured and constructed.
“If a phased delivery approach is considered viable, the delivery timeframes would again be subject to the timing of the availability of funding. This may also require a further update to the business case in the future.”
In correspondence to ABC chief executive, Roger Wilson, his Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council counterpart, David Burns, explained his own local authority also viewed the upgrade scheme as a “top priority”.
He stated: “At a meeting of Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council held on October 24, 2023, the council passed unanimously the undernoted notice of motion in connection with the re-prioritisation of the Al dual carriageway.
“Between 2002 and 2019 there has been 661 collisions and 41 people killed on the Al dual carriageway.
“Despite a public inquiry and previous ministerial approval, Phase 2 of the Al upgrade has been recently categorised as a Tier 3 project, with no commitment on completion, despite years of campaigning from the public and political representatives.
“This council recognises the urgent need for Al infrastructure upgrades and the strong public support for improvements.
“This council also recognises the significant and detrimental impact of the British Government-imposed budget cuts on vital public services here, and much needed infrastructure projects such as the Al, and that the British Government needs to properly fund the Executive to allow it to deliver for communities.
“In order to protect lives on one of our busiest roads, this council recognises the Phase 2 upgrades as a top priority infrastructure project, and requests urgent budget reallocation to support project delivery.
“The council asked that your elected members support this council’s notice of motion in regard to the urgent re-prioritisation of the Al and budget reallocation to achieve the Phase 2 upgrades.
