McGreevy challenges Roads Minister to repair ‘appalling’ Kilbroney Road | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

McGreevy challenges Roads Minister to repair ‘appalling’ Kilbroney Road

Roads Minister Danny Kennedy has been challenged by a local SDLP Councillor to release the necessary cash to tackle the “appalling state” of the Kilbroney Road in Rostrevor through to Hilltown.

SDLP Councillor Connaire McGreevy

And Councillor Connaire McGreevy said that some of the tens of millions of additional cash now being held by the Department of Regional Development following the collapse of plans to build the new A5 Dual Carriageway in the Northwest should now be directed towards County Down.

“The state of the Kilbroney Road is unacceptable. I have made a number of representations to the Newry Section office to raise the complaints of residents. Some of the remedial work has not been of the standard capable of coping with the heavy volumes of traffic that use that stretch of road.

McGreevy explained, “It is a situation that will only get significantly worse as the summer tourist gets into full swing. I have been informed that the works on the Kilbroney Road are currently an interim reinstatement.

“The full extent of the final reinstatement to be carried out on behalf of NI Water has been agreed and full completion is expected in the near future. The Section Office has agreed that the recent poor weather has caused considerable deterioration on the carriageway, particularly in the section between Reid Hall and the Monastery.

“It has also been confirmed to me that a resurfacing scheme for this section, approximately 2200m in length has been identified. But while the official line is that the programme for these works is “dependent on suitable funds being made available” – that is simply not good enough.

“The Stormont Executive now has in its bank vaults the money that was going to be spent on the A5 project. In relative terms even a small percentage of that spare cash would make a huge impact on a vital roadway in our area.

“And given that Minister Danny Kennedy represents the Newry and Mourne area surely he has an additional moral responsibility to ensure that a key tourism link is actually roadworthy,” Councillor McGreevy added.

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Posted by on May 10 2013. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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