No progression on planned improvements to road were four people were killed in last four years

East Derry MLA John Dallat has said that he is “very disappointed” that plans to make road improvements Co Derry accident blackspot are not progressing.

At least four people have been killed on the A54 Agivey Road in Kilrea over the past four years

In September 2016 the Department of Infrastructure pledged to look into improving safety measures along the road. At the time, former Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard outlined a proposal for work along a section of the road between the junction with Mullan Road and Movanagher Road.

“The aim of the scheme is to upgrade the standard of the road through improved vertical alignment, increasing the forward sight distances, providing verges and extending the footway over the length of the scheme,” Mr Hazzard said.

The minister added that any upgrade to the road would be “subject to the availability of funding.”

SDLP assembly member John Dallat is concerned that no progress has been made, after receiving a letter from Transport NI.

“This stretch of the Agivey Road is a serious hazard to both motorists and especially to pedestrians who like to walk to the nearby Movanagher Forest and the River Bann,” Mr Dallat said.

“In a letter from the Network Development Engineer I am told that although the much needed improvement scheme is outstanding for many years it is competing for prioritisation on a long list of similar proposals in the Northern Division.

“Obviously I am very disappointed and worry that there could be another fatal accident following several in the past and one life is too much to pay when a solution is at hand if the money was available.”

A young Polish father, Krystian Cadler (19), was killed on the road on May 14 last year, after his motorbike collided with a van as he was returning home to Kilrea following the North West 200.

Leanne Dripps (23), from Maghera, was killed following a two car collision on the road in April 2014, while Declan McKenna (23) and Christopher O'Neill (22) from Kilrea died in July 2013 when their car struck a tree.

Mr Dallat said that he hoped that a particularly dangerous bottleneck on the road can be addressed in the near future.

“Unfortunately, Roads Service is just another casualty of the failure to agree a capital budget which would address issues like the Agivey Road bottleneck and will continue to present danger until common sense prevails and the Assembly can begin functioning in the way it was intended not just for road improvements but for Health, Education, Community Services and many other issues which are creating crises all over the place,” he said.

“I can only hope that following the Westminster election serious efforts will be made to get the assembly functioning for the common good of everyone and that includes those endangered day and daily by this bottleneck that exists now for more than fifty years.”