Upgrades to 400 rural roads completed and more to come – Hazzard

Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard has announced upgrades to 400 rural roads have been completed, following the launch of his £10 million Rural Roads initiative earlier this year.

Minister Hazzard allocated £10 million to improve the condition of rural roads in June. 

Minister Hazzard said: 

“I am delighted that just five months on from announcing £10 million for a rural roads improvement initiative, 400 stretches of roads in rural communities across the north have been upgraded and resurfaced.

“This demonstrates actual delivery on the ground for rural communities across the region.  This work will now continue over the coming months to see improvements made on the condition of around 1000 roads.

“Anyone wanting to check their local area can now view roads included on the programme at: https://dfi-ni.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=fd6c0a01b07840269a50a2f596b3daf6.”

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 07623 974 383 and your call will be returned.
7. Follow the Department on Twitter @deptinfra

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