A1 upgrade: Monica Heaney frustrated by safety delays

A mother whose son died in a crash on the A1 Belfast-to-Dublin road has said she is frustrated that work on a major safety upgrade continues to be delayed.

Monica Heaney has been campaigning for improvements to the A1 dual carriageway since her son Karl was killed in a collision near Banbridge in May 2018.

More than 12,000 people have signed a petition to prioritise the upgrade.

Ms Heaney presented it to Stormont's Department for Infrastructure, but the work cannot proceed without a minister.

"It's frustrating to know that the road, if the improvements were there, it would save lives," the campaigner told BBC News NI.

"It's the funding that is holding it back, the lack of an executive."

Since the collapse of Northern Ireland's devolved government almost two years ago, civil servants have been running public services.

The Democratic Unionist Party walked out in protest against post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland and has said it will not return unless its concerns are addressed.

A government cannot be formed without the party.

In the absence of a minister responsible for roads, Ms Heaney had to present the petition to the department's permanent secretary Denis McMahon.

She described her meeting with officials as positive, but acknowledged that they had limited power to act.

"In a way their hands are tied as well. They're doing as much as they physically can to bring this road forward," she said.

"Without an executive, a decision hasn't been made. No money has been ringfenced for this road."

More than five years have passed since her son's death and in that time, she has tried to prevent other motorists from losing their lives on the A1.

Karl was 27 when he was driving home from his girlfriend's house and encountered two cars driving on the wrong side of the road between Dromore and Banbridge.

Karl managed to avoid the first car, but was struck by the second and was fatally injured.

The man and woman who had been driving the other cars both received driving bans.

"I realised shortly after his death that if the road had have been improved - if the improvements had have happened - my son definitely would be alive," Ms Heaney said.

"It's so frustrating that you have to go through all these hoops to get there and everything takes so much time."

She was accompanied to Tuesday's meeting by the Alliance Party's transport spokesman David Honeyford and Banbridge Alliance councillor Joy Ferguson, who lives close to the A1.

"Anyone who regularly uses the A1 knows the clear dangers that it presents," Ms Ferguson said.

"There are many turn-offs on the carriageway where you have to cross over the central reservation, which are extremely dangerous."

Mr Honeyford said: "Forty-one people have died on the A1 in the past 17 years which is a tragic statistic, but it's more than a statistic.

"It's families and it's people who are missing from the dinner table tonight."

The politicians supported calls for the department to prioritise the project and allocate funding for "urgent" improvements.

"After a public inquiry and also previous ministerial approval, we're still waiting and it's particularly frustrating when we know what the safety improvements are to protect people and their families," Ms Ferguson added.

The public inquiry into a proposed £70m upgrade of the A1 began in March 2020.

It examined proposals to close gaps in the central reservation, create new flyovers and prevent right turns from more than 20 side roads.

The following year, the then infrastructure minister Nichola Mallon accepted the outcome of the inquiry and approved a plan to upgrade a 15.5 mile (25km) stretch of the carriageway between Hillsborough and Loughbrickland.

Although the project was given the green light to proceed, it was still subject to funding.

Mr Honeyford told BBC News NI that department officials were "working to develop the plans and designs, but ultimately without a minister in place this can't progress".

"The budget isn't there without a minister's sign-off."

The Alliance assembly member explained the project needed to go out to tender first and then would take an estimated three years to complete.

"But that starting point needs to be now. The longer this delays, the costs increase and tragically people are losing their lives on this road," he said.

Ms Heaney expressed hope that business plans could be progressed by civil servants so that "if an executive does come back and the money does become available, that they could proceed as quickly as possible".