Motorists frustrated by third round of roadworks on busy Cookstown-Dungannon road

Angry motorists have hit out at yet more roadworks and delays on the A29 between Cookstown and Dungannon.
A29 Cookstown-Dungannon roadA29 Cookstown-Dungannon road
A29 Cookstown-Dungannon road

In 2015, hundreds of thousands were spent completely resurfacing the road near Desertcreat junction, but not even a year later NI Water dug up large sections of the new road to lay pipes in a £2m project.

Drivers complained of delays in the area back in July, when they were inconvenienced a second time.

Now, just four months later, the road is being dug up again, and drivers are losing their patience.

One woman, who travels the road to work, said: “I can’t believe they’re digging up that road again. It’s causing traffic jams every day.”

While a post on the Cookstown Whinge Facebook page questioned the cost.

In July a TransportNI spokesperson said if they had delayed the initial works until after the pipes were laid, they would have lost funding for the project, while NI Water said they were unable to bring their project forward.

As for the third round works, they said: “The second surfacing was the reinstatement of the trench which is a two part process. The first is to allow any settlement to occur and the current surfacing which was carried out on 17-19 October completes the process. This complies with the specification for utility reinstatements and follows good engineering practice. This work was carried out at no cost to TransportNI.”