"Recommended route" for A5 Dual Carriageway to be known by late 2008

West Tyrone Sinn Fein MP Pat Doherty has been told that a recommendation as to the preferred route option for the A5 dual carriageway between Aughnacloy and Derry should be available by the end of next year.

The local MP who has been to the forefront of the campaign to secure a dual carriageway through the northwest received the news of the timescale in response to a written question he submitted to Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy.

Pat Doherty said, "In a written question to the Minister I asked for the planned timeframe for the completion of the A5 dual carriageway, "Route Corridor Study" and for the completion of the subsequent public consultation.

"In response the Minister said that an early appointment of consultants will allow the production of a preliminary options report including recommendations for a preferred corridor for the 'dualling' of the A5 by late 2008. Subsequent work, including significant public consultation, should enable identification of a preferred route within that corridor by mid 2009.

"With the necessary finance for the A5 Dual Carriageway having already been ring-fenced, the Minister is determined that the template which has delivered major road infrastructure projects in the 26 counties, well within the planned completion time, is applied to this massive infrastructural project and he has assured me that the fast track approach will continue right up until the dual carriageway becomes fully operational.