The Department of Regional Development is due to make an announcement in June on what route they will take when constructing a new piece of dual carriageway along part of the A26.

The road is the key route that connects Coleraine and the rest of the north coast to Belfast via Ballymoney, Ballymena and Antrim.

At present there is a dual carriageway running north from the end of the existing M2 Ballymena bypass to Glarryford crossroads, about a third of the way to Ballymoney.

After Glarryford, however, there are only a few short sections of dual carriageway for the rest of the route to Coleraine.

The plan is to widen around four-and-a-half-miles of road between Glarryford and the A44 turn-off for Ballycastle.

The development is an attempt to improve infrastructure and safety in the area as this part of road has seen many fatal car accidents.

The Frosses Road Association (FRA) yesterday gave a presentation to the DRD Committee, telling MLAs that there were five potential routes for the road but they feared the department would choose one of two that go through prime arable land – ruining countryside, farms and homes in the process.

Arguing

The group is arguing for the dual carriageway to stay close to the current single-track road.

But the softer peat land around the route may be a less attractive, less viable and more costly option than going through the firmer farm land.

It would also offer less disruption to traffic, being further removed from the current road.

An entirely new road would also be safer as it would not have to incorporate junctions.

Residents, however, argue that the present route is shorter and more level.

Wallace Gregg, of the FRA, said: "Two of the possible routes go through virgin countryside, prime agricultural land, farms, houses and affects businesses.

"The current road has been there for something like 150 years and was the work of Co Antrim surveyor Charles Lanyon (who also designed Queen's University].

"It and the River Maine present the natural borders in the area, around which the local community has grown and settled and developed livelihoods and social networks – all of that is now under threat."

The project was originally costed at around £35 million but that has spiralled to somewhere between £45 and £51 million.

The FRA has support from local MP Ian Paisley and local MLAs.