31 July 2006
CAIRNS CONSULTS ON £400 MILLION ROADS PACKAGE
Roads Minister David Cairns today unveiled a proposed £400 million package of major road upgrades, which will now go out to consultation.
The Minister made the announcement whilst on a visit to the site of the Newry to Dundalk dualling scheme.
"This package of improvements is part of the ongoing investment being undertaken in Northern Ireland's infrastructure which is essential to encourage economic development," the Minister said.
"It is to be funded as part of the Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland (ISNI) in which an extra £400 million has been earmarked for major improvements to the trunk road network during the period up to 2015.
"This is over and above the £1 billion already in the pipeline, and means that proposed investment in Northern Ireland's Strategic Road Network now stands at £1.4 billion - the highest in real terms for over 30 years."
The Minister explained: "Even with this level of funding however, choices have had to be made, as not every scheme can be funded. While we believe that this package makes best use of the funds available, the consultation I am announcing today will afford all those interested an opportunity to comment on our proposals. These comments will be considered before I finalise the programme this autumn."
The proposed list includes a new £130 million A5 route from Derry to Strabane and on to Victoria Bridge, bypasses of Enniskillen, Fivemiletown and Ballykelly and a £10 million package of improvements for the A32 between Omagh and Enniskillen.
Other schemes are also proposed elsewhere to deal with bottlenecks on highly trafficked routes. These include a £50 million scheme to provide a flyover junction carrying Westlink over York Street as well as dualling on the A26 from Coleraine to Ballymoney and the A3 from Portadown to Richill.
On the key A1 route to the border, there would be a new £45m link between the M1 and Hillsborough to take through traffic past Sprucefield, and four additional flyover junctions on the existing dual between Hillsborough and Loughbrickland which, in addition to the four already programmed, will turn this section of the route it into an expressway with no movements across the central reserve and a continuous central safety barrier.
The new package is on top of an already extensive programme which, in the next few years, will see the completion of schemes like the M1/Westlink upgrade, high standard dualling of the Belfast to Dublin route, the A4 from Dungannon to Ballygawley and the A6 from Randalstown to Castledawson, which will be followed by schemes towards the end of the 2015 period like the dualling from Derry to Dungiven which the Secretary of State announced last December.
The Roads Service of the Department for Regional Development has drawn up a priority list of candidates for the additional funding by building on the Strategic Network Transport Plan, published in March last year.
David Orr, Roads Service's Director of Network Services, said: "The Government's Investment Strategy envisages that this additional roads funding will be available to us towards the end of the 2015 period. But it is important to start planning now, because major schemes like these have lead-in times of at least six years from the time they are included in the programme until work starts on site. We need to do extensive feasibility studies to select the preferred routes; undertake environmental studies, ground surveys and economic appraisals; and then progress the schemes through the statutory procedures of environmental statement, planning approval, land acquisition and procurement. So this consultation is an important first step towards getting the work on the ground."
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. Media queries to: Paddy Cullen, Press Office, Department for Regional Development, Tel 028 90 540817.
2. The scheme being visited by the Minister is one of 3 that will see the A1 between Belfast and Dublin completed to a high standard dual carriageway by the end of 2009. And it is an example of practical cross-border co-operation between the Roads Service and the road authorities in the Republic of Ireland.
3. The consultation document is available on the DRD and Roads Service website's at www.drdni.gov.uk or www.roadsni.gov.uk , or by writing to:
Network Development Branch
Roads Service Headquarters
Clarence Court
10-18 Adelaide Street
Belfast
BT2 8GBTelephone 028 90 540490
4. Responses must be returned to the above address by Friday 29 September 2006.
5. The Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland (ISNI) was developed by the Strategic Investment Board and announced by the Secretary of State in December 2005. ISNI envisages the funding that is likely to be available over the period to 2015, but actual funding has to be secured in succeeding budget rounds.
6. The additional £400m was earmarked for Strategic Road Improvements, which are defined as major capital improvements on Northern Ireland's motorway and trunk road network.
7. The delivery of any scheme in the programme is subject to the availability of funds in succeeding budget rounds, a satisfactory economic appraisal and clearing the statutory procedures of environmental statement, planning approval (known as the direction order) and land acquisition.
8. All scheme estimates are at 2005 prices, to match the price base used by ISNI.
There are 5 attachments:
- Annex A: Schemes in the Current SRI Programme
- Annex B: Proposed additional SRI Schemes to be added to the programme - i.e. the subject of the consultation.
- Annex C: Other Schemes, which performed well in the assessment but are not affordable within the ISNI funding envisaged to 2015.
- Annex D: Map showing locations of schemes in Annexes A, B and C.
- Annex E : Map showing the Regional Strategic Transport Network
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