A5 funding ‘a drain’

THE NI Director of a charity dedicated to getting people on their bikes, on buses and travelling by foot says the money being spent on the multi-million pounds Londonderry to Aughnacloy road is draining funding away from other transport initiatives.

Steven Patterson, Northern Ireland Director of the Sustrans charity told a Stormont Regional Development Committee hearing on “Accessibility and Sustainable Transport” that spending on the A5 is too high.

He said: “The Department’s budget has reflected the fact that there has obviously been a large emphasis on dual carriageways and road building.

“The A5, in particular, seems to be draining the money away from so many other transport initiatives. We have major concerns about that, because we believe that the balance is wrong.”

Roads Minister Conor Murphy has vowed to forge ahead with the A5 in Budget 2011-15 and he anticipates a public inquiry into the roads project will be held in May/June this year.

But Mr Patterson said money would be better spent improving roads across the local network.

“Alternative to that sort of investment, the money could be much better used in the maintenance of the existing road network and invested in the shorter journeys,” said Mr Patterson.

“Why build a new A5 dual carriageway if the existing roads are falling apart? Seventy five per cent of our journeys in Northern Ireland are less than five miles.

“Therefore, a lot more focus should be spent on those shorter journeys, which, coincidentally, are the journeys that could be made by walking, cycling or using public transport, or a mix of all three.”