By Alan Healy
Road chiefs this week defended the ‘progress’ being made on the proposed widening of one of Derry’s busiest roads, after it emerged that no date and no budget had been set for the work.
The Buncrana Road widening scheme would have seen the existing road – one of the city’s most congested - widened to four lanes from Pennyburn Roundabout to Skeoge Link Roundabout
It will also provide a dual carriageway from Skeoge Roundabout to the Border with the Republic of Ireland.
The scheme was first announced in February 2009 by the then Transport Minister, Sinn Fein’s Conor Murphy.
However, it was revealed in February last year that the £40-50 million needed to complete the Buncrana Road scheme is no longer available due to priority being given to getting the A6 and A5 on track, with Transport NI has now said he there were no plans to look at the scheme again until 2021.
In October of last year, the then Minister for Infrastructure, Chris Hazzard announced that funding was secured to get the project back on track.
It’s now emerged that no date has been set for the scheme to start, and no funding has been set aside.
The update came at a special meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Environment and Regeneration committee on Tuesday afternoon.
Speaking at the meeting, Harry Gallagher, Network Development Manager with Transport NI, said that engineering consultants had been in put in place to assist with the scheme.
Mr Gallagher said that the consultants were ‘updating the traffic model and undertaking environmental and ecological surveys’.
He added that this would ‘assist design development’, including a review of the existing junctions on the road.
The meeting was told that a public consultation would have to be held, which Mr Gallagher said could in turn lead to a Public Inquiry.
He then added that it was ‘anticipated’ that this could be concluded by 2019.
Priority
Mr Gallagher continued that the delivery of the scheme will depend on the level of funding ‘available at the time’ and the ‘priority’ given to different schemes ‘competing’ for the available funding.
The SDLP’s Brian Tierney said that the representatives from Transport NI had presented what was described as a ‘progress report’ on the Buncrana Road to the committee.
He added that it was his opinion that ‘no progress’ had been made on the scheme.
“We were told it would ten years at the last meeting,” he said.
“Obviously we don’t have a minister in place at the minute, but it looks like the Buncrana Road scheme is as far away as it’s ever been.”
Meanwhile, the Sinn Fein councillor Sandra Duffy said that her party colleague Tony Hassan ‘had been campaigning for years’ for the Buncrana Road scheme.
The SDLP’s John Boyle commented that it was a ‘pity’ a Sinn Fein minister (Chris Hazzard) didn’t have the same interest in the Buncrana Road as Cllr Hassan.
Responding the to the councillors’ concerns over the delay, Mr Gallagher said that people living on the Buncrana Road ‘had a right to a consultation’.
“There is work going to identify where the traffic is coming from and going to,” he said.
“There’s going to be a downside for some people, and it’s only right that they get the chance to speak about it.”
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