A5: Work should begin on road project – O’Dowd

Stormont’s Infrastructure Minister, John O’Dowd, has said he has recommended to the executive that work should begin on the long-delayed A5 road project.

But O’Dowd said while he had initially hoped the executive could have agreed to his proposal on Thursday, he said it could take “slightly more time”.

The 58-mile (85km) dual carriageway between Londonderry and the border at Aughnacloy was first announced in 2007, but has been beset by funding issues and legal challenges.

O’Dowd said he expects to be able to make an announcement in the “very near future”.

Before the minister can allow work to begin, he needs approval from the wider Stormont Executive as the matter is significant.

He made his comments about the project to pupils from St Ciaran’s College in Ballygawley, County Tyrone, on Thursday. They were meeting him to press for the work to commence.

They presented 54 crosses to the minister, each representing those who have lost their lives on the road since 2007.

One of them was for Kamile Vaicikonyte, a year 13 pupil, who died in a crash on the A5 earlier this year.

O’Dowd told the pupils that all his preparatory work was done and that his paper recommending the project begin work was now with the executive.

“I’d hoped the paper would be before the executive today (Thursday) – there is a significant amount of detail and it might take slightly more time, but I do expect a decision to be made in the very near future,” he told them.

He said his recommendation was based on improving road safety for all those who travel along the route.

Speaking after the meeting at Stormont, Pascal Canavan, a teacher at St Ciaran’s, said it was “great that the minister got to hear how some of the pupils are feeling” and described it as “very poignant that it came from a young voice”.

“There’s a whole lot of hurt there, right along that road,” he said.

Referencing the old A4 road, on which many people also lost their lives, he said “the school has a long history with roads, but we also know the impact of when the roads are changed and improved.”

“So we are standing back, waiting and hoping,” he added.