Ballykelly bypass put on hold indefinitely due to budget priorities

DfI confirmed this week that plans for a multi-million pound, four kilometre dual-carriageway around the Co. Derry village was not among its priority road projects.

“In view of financial and resourcing pressures within the Department, development work on [this] schemes has been paused,” it stated.

The Ballykelly bypass was first mooted as a realistic prospect over 15 years ago but there has been little progress in over a decade.

The future of the project now looks extremely doubtful alongside the futures of several other road projects in the North including the A32 Esker Bog and A32 Kilgortnalegue between Omagh and Enniskillen and the A26 between Ballymoney and Coleraine.

"Their place on a future major works programme will be informed by the Department’s emerging transport plans and a decision by a future Infrastructure Minister,” the Department stated.