Money must be spent on A5 or surrendered

Roads Minister Danny Kennedy told UUP MLA Roy Beggs: “The budget for the period 2011/12 to 2014/15 was announced to the Assembly by the Minister for Finance and Personnel on 4 March 2011.

“DFP has advised that funding must only be used for the purposes allocated, for example the A5 and A8 Projects and, if not required for that purpose, must be surrendered.”

Mr Beggs also asked the Roads Minister how the design standards for the proposed A5 and A8 road schemes were defined; and how the specification set for each section of the roads took traffic levels into consideration.

The Minister advised design standards used in the development of the projects were defined in the Design Manual for roads and bridges.

“Roads Service has advised that the traffic threshold level for a dual carriageway, as indicated in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, is exceeded for all sections of the A8 and for the vast majority of the existing A5 route.

“It is accepted that the projected traffic volumes on the Ballygawley - Aughnacloy section of the A5 in the opening year are below the stated threshold. However, from an engineering, and in particular, road safety perspective, it is preferable to have consistency of standards along the entire length of a route,” the Minister stated.

The Minister went on to state that he was awaiting Inspectors’ Reports - following the recent public inquiries on the A5 and A8 - which in both cases are anticipated to be presented to the Department before the end of this year.

“I intend to consider the Independent Inspector’s reports and the proposed investment levels across my Department, including the impact of Budget 2010 on the strategic roads programme.

“The Member may be aware that the Irish Government recently confirmed its commitment to making a contribution to both projects. However, both Governments have agreed to look at ways of reducing costs,” he stated.