Editorial: The huge delay to the critical Westlink/M2 junction upgrade is a farce and a disgrace

​It is approaching a decade since the 2017 election in which the DUP suddenly found itself holding the balance of power for the UK.

​Theresa May had taken over as Conservative prime minister the year before, in the aftermath of Brexit. Emboldened, she called a general election in the Easter of 2017 to try to secure a clear majority for the Tories in parliament, and a negotiating mandate.

It didn’t turn out like that. Mrs May fell short of an overall majority in the House of Commons, and was dependent on DUP MPs to form a government.

One thing the DUP got in return was a pledge to build a new upgraded York Street interchange in Belfast, where the M1, Westlink, M2 and M3 roads all meet. It is one of the most important, busiest and most congested pieces of road infrastructure in Northern Ireland.

The DUP deal with the Tories secured gains not merely for the DUP, not merely for people of a unionist outlook but for all citizens of NI. Yet the upgrade to York Street never happened. Why not?

The answers to that are far from clear. The SDLP Stormont infrastructure minister during a critical period when the road might have progressed, Nichola Mallon, did not seem to be keen on the interchange project. There was talk about the damage to communities that lived around the new planned junction, which would have made most traffic movements between Belfast city centre and the aforementioned roads free-flowing.

In 2021, the roads enthusiast Wesley Johnston wrote in this newspaper that he feared it would never be built. Five years on, he is issuing similar warnings (see page 15).

Now he is saying that the ridiculous (our words) Climate Change Act has all but killed off the upgrade. Meanwhile, with the post-Covid return to heavy traffic, the junction is busier and slower than ever. What a farce. What a scandal.