Some Mid Ulster roads ‘dangerous’ because of ‘lack of funds for essential maintenance’

SDLP councillor Christine McFlynn also hit out at the Roads Minister - Michelle McIlveen’s - absence from the Assembly, which she said has delayed the introduction of measures to address the lack of funds for “dangerous” roads.

Cllr McFlynn said: “A number of local residents have contacted me about the dangerous junction at Inniscairn Road and Desertmartin Road.

“The road has had several improvements, but coming from Desertmartin the road markings and signage are very poor.

“Drivers who use the junction daily have concerns around safety and I met with Transport NI officials at the site recently to raise those concerns.

“In those discussions it emerged that there is no external budget at present for road markings and only high priority junction markings are being maintained, regardless of the condition of the road markings.

“While some improvements to the current markings were agreed at this junction, with Transport NI agreeing that the centre line needed to be replaced by a hazard warning line, it is clear that they are being prevented from doing all the work they need to do by the lack of allocated funds,” she added.

“This will have an adverse effect on road safety across the network, but in particular on our rural roads.

“The newly appointed Roads Minister needs to get behind her desk and get up to speed on the many issues facing her department that must be resolved immediately.

“A failure to introduce measures to address the lack of funding for essential road maintenance caused by further delays by the DUP to their inevitable return to the Executive will only place more people at risk on our roads.”