Editorial: Derry's roads need urgent attention

The ongoing improvements to the north west's roads infrastructure, particularly the A6, are very welcome but other major projects including the A2 Buncrana Road widening and the state of local roads in general need urgent attention.
Potholes in Derry ( file picture)Potholes in Derry ( file picture)
Potholes in Derry ( file picture)

At a recent special meeting with local elected representatives, Roads Service outlined a wide range of local projects and improvements, all of which were very welcome. Not before time, the Bogside Residents Parking Scheme is now being revitalised.

But it also came to light that there were now over 3,000 potholes in the local Council area. That should be a shocking statistic but it will come as little surprise to all of us who regularly traverse the road network here.

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The A2 Buncrana Road dualling project meanwhile is now under review once more, at a time when hundreds of new homes are being built along this main cross-border route. It is hard to believe that this scheme has been decades in the making and yet construction work still seems a long, long way off.

A previous artist's impression of how the Buncrana Road dualling will look when completed.A previous artist's impression of how the Buncrana Road dualling will look when completed.
A previous artist's impression of how the Buncrana Road dualling will look when completed.

It is heartening that the new Infrastructure Minister, like his recent predecessors, seems to have taken onboard the disparities in roads and other infrastructure east and west, and the commitment of the Roads Service to do all they can to improve the network with limited resources is commendable. The chance to really get to grips with all these issues and to deliver multi-year funding however is, like so much else here, hampered by the lack of a restored NI Executive. So we can add our roads to the growing list of pressing issues that will have to be kicked down the can.

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