'FLYOVERS' DUE OPEN AMID WAVE OF COMPAINTS
TWO of the new 'flyovers' on the A1 carriageway were due to open on Monday (September 14) amid a fresh wave of complaints sweeping through Dromore and Banbridge.
According to a Roads Service spokesperson, as of yesterday, Monday, September 14, the new Banbridge and Hillsborough interchanges were to open to traffic, under traffic management arrangements.
Remaining interchanges at Banbridge Road, Dromore and Dublin Road, Loughbrickland are reportedly on schedule and, the spokesperson said, should be completed by the end of the year.
The news came as residents and their representatives criticised the Department of Regional Development over the delay in opening those junctions already "completed".
One Dromore reader, who did not want to be named, said many locals were highly critical of the failure to open the Hillsborough junction.
"The bridge has been finished for months and yet it is not open," he said. "The contractors are long gone and now the only activity to be seen is a few landscapers."
In the meantime, he said, small, rural roads were filled with diverted traffic.
"And the greatest danger of all," he added, "is that many vehicles are obliged to make u-turns on the A1, which is obviously highly undesirable and dangerous.
"While on the subject, you will notice that the Banbridge flyover bridge, finished even before Hillsboroughl is only open in one direction after all this time."
Meanwhile,Upper Bann Ulster Unionist MLA George Savage recently laid down questions in the Assembly to regional development minister Conor Murphy, asking him to detail why, four months after completion, the A1/Dromore Road flyover at Banbridge was still not fully operational.
He said afterwards, "At present the flyover can only be used by country-bound traffic wanting to gain access to Banbridge, which is good. However, vehicles wishing to head country-bound out of Banbridge cannot do so at present.
Four months on, this simply isn't acceptable."
Mr. Savage stressed that he did welcome the provision of the flyover, as it enahnced road safety.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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