A1 dual carriageway Northern Ireland upgrade campaign: Councillor welcomes judge's comments on 'notorious' accident blackspot on route which has claimed 41 lives

She was speaking after a court case last week in Banbridge Magistrates Court.

District Judge Eamonn King highlighted the danger of the A1 when convicting a Dublin driver of careless driving which resulted in a female driver suffering a broken wrist.

The collision happened on 2 August at a notorious collision blackspot – the Halfway Road junction with the A1 just north of Banbridge.

Mr King went on to remark on the outdated design of the busy carriageway, with right hand turns across the central reservation into oncoming traffic of motorway volume and speeds.

He said: "In the event, the observation I would make is that this section of the road is notorious.

"How far behind we are in infrastructure investment that someone has to cross the carriageway to get over to the far side. Plus the flow of traffic, It's just a recipe for disaster.”

His remarks were warmly welcomed by Councillor Ferguson.

“These comments from District Judge Eamonn King are entirely welcome, and it’s encouraging to see further acknowledgement of just how far behind we are in terms of investment in the A1," she told the News Letter.

“The A1 dual carriageway is one of the most dangerous roads in Northern Ireland, seeing 661 collisions and 41 fatalities over a 17-year period. It’s clear that these upgrades are desperately needed, and securing them is a matter of public safety and must not be delayed any longer.”

Her comments come after three councils on the A1 route passed Alliance Party motions calling for planned upgrades to be expedited. Newry Mourne and Down, Armagh Banbridge and Craigavon and Lisburn and Castlereagh councils have all backed the upgrade, which would see an unbroken central reservation barrier from Hillsborough to Loughbrickland, four new flyover junctions and the prevention of right turns from more than 20 side roads.

Alliance Infrastructure spokesperson and Lagan Valley MLA David Honeyford told the News Letter that he met with the Department of Infrastructure Permanent Secretary this week and once again stressed the urgency of this work.

The Department has commissioned research into what can be done to make the road safer when they don't have the budget to complete entire upgrades all at once, he said.

“I have asked the Permanent Secretary about the possibility of, if they don’t have the budget for the entire project in one go, the most dangerous points in the road could be identified as a start and upgraded a section at a time, rather than continuing to push it all down the agenda waiting for a full funding package,” he added.

Ms Ferguson has also lent her support to a long-standing petition calling for the urgent progression of improvements to the A1, after working with local campaigner Monica Heaney.

She is the mother of Karl Heaney, who sadly lost his life on the A1 between Banbridge and Dromore in 2018. He was killed close to the Halfway Road junction, the same stretch which District Judge King criticised last week in court.

Sign petition at: www.change.org/p/department-of-infrastructure-completion-of-a1-road-improvements