Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard announces £10 million to improve 1,000 rural roads

Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard has announced a £10m investment to improve the condition of rural roads.

The Minister has earmarked additional funding announced by the Finance Minister earlier this month for resurfacing work on 1,000 rural roads across the north.

The Minister said: 

“I am delighted to announce today that rural communities across the region will benefit from a £10m road improvement package to stop deterioration and repair severe defects on their local road network. 

“The improvements will target around 1,000 rural roads, repairing many short lengths of road (20 to 50 metres) in particularly poor condition, together with a number of  longer resurfacing schemes of around 1 kilometre.

“In this difficult financial period, it is of course necessary to prioritise resources, but for too long rural communities have dropped down the priority list. Today will go some way to addressing that imbalance and giving rural communities across the region roads that are fit for purpose and that will stand the test of time and weather.”

The Department is currently considering areas in greatest need and will draw up programmes to enable work to start as soon as possible.

Notes to editors: 

1. There are 18,000 kilometres of rural roads that fall within the scope of this initiative - defined as B, C and U class roads outside local speed limits.

2. Allocations will be made using a range of weighted indicators based on numbers of defects, numbers of public liability claims, carriageway area together with road condition data from visual and machine surveys.

3. There are 18,095 kilometres of rural roads across the north, with the following breakdown across TransportNI’s four divisions: Northern 3,743 kilometres, Southern 5,500 kilometres, Eastern 8,64 kilometres, Western 7,988 kilometres.

4. The indicative divisional allocations based on these indicators are as follows:
 

5. In addition to resurfacing, the initiative provides the potential for some additional road drainage enhancements to address a number of surface ponding issues at various locations across the rural network.

6. Media queries should be directed to the Department for Infrastructure Press Office on 028 9054 0007. Out of office hours please contact the duty press officer via pager number 076 9971 5440 and your call will be returned.

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