Call for improvements at A1 junctions to continue

A local MLA has demanded that much-needed improvement work on dangerous A1 junctions in the area goes ahead.
Ulster Unionist Party MLA Jenny Palmer 
Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.Ulster Unionist Party MLA Jenny Palmer 
Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.
Ulster Unionist Party MLA Jenny Palmer Picture by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye.

Lagan Valley MLA Jenny Palmer issued her challenge after she received a letter from the Infrastructure Minister, Chris Hazzard, who was responding to her “deep concerns” about safety on the notorious A1 junctions.

The Minister told Mrs Palmer: “In relation to the proposed A1 Junctions Phase 2 Road Improvement Scheme, a significant amount of development work has already been carried out for the proposal, however, much remains to be done. The current phase of this work involves the completion of the detailed design and Environmental Statement in preparation for taking the proposal through the Statutory Procedures, which will likely include a Public Inquiry.”

Mrs Palmer said: “I will be monitoring the situation very closely to ensure that the ‘much which remains to be done’ is actually implemented and that the Minister and his department make the necessary funds available to complete this much-required scheme in its entirety.

“I do not want this vital arterial route in our constituency to become one of Northern Ireland’s most notorious accident blackspots.”