Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council call for safety upgrades of the A1 to be made a top priority

With 661 collisions and 41 people killed on the A1 Dual Carriageway between 2002 and 2019, Councillor Thompson said the Council “simply couldn’t sit back and ignore this issue any longer”.

She continued: “The public has waited much too long for this project to be completed. We cannot allow stalled processes and on-going stagnation to block what is an essential safety project for everyone locally.

“Alongside this, the economic potential is being wasted, due to a lack of investment and vision.

"Not only would it bring improved journey times and make these journeys safer, the upgrade would also secure a direct and indirect economic boost in sectors such as logistics, construction, manufacturing and tourism as this road is the main economic corridor between Belfast and Dublin with access to both the A1 and M1.

“I’m delighted those in the chamber recognised the importance of this motion and sought to get behind it, showing collective leadership on an issue that matters to local people and one, that in the long run, will save lives.”

The call from the council comes after the Department for Infrastructure recently stated that work was ongoing to complete contract documents for the scheme, which is estimated to cost £65m to £75m.

However, the scheme does not appear on the Departments list of prioritised schemes and it has been revealed that no funding has been secured to allow the improvements to go ahead.