§ Lord Eamesasked Her Majesty's Government:
What plan they have for improvements to the Portadown Armagh Road in the light of the greatly increased traffic flow in that area. [HL1067]
§ Lord DubsThe Department of the Environment's Roads Service has proposals to upgrade the A.3 Portadown to Armagh Road to dual carriageway standard. The improvements, which will be carried out on a phased basis (i. e. in four stages), are included in our 6–15 year major works programme and will cost approximately £20 million in total. The timing of these schemes will, of course, depend on the future availability of funds for major road works and their priority relative to the many other desirable schemes in the programme.
In the meantime, the Roads Service is in the process of commissioning consultants to prepare a route management strategy of low cost improvement projects for the A.3. These may include proposals for climbing lanes, junction improvements and localised widening schemes. It is hoped that this consultancy will be completed by the summer. More immediately, a project to improve the junction at Sandymount Road and provide an additional right-turn facility (cost approximately £30,000) is due to commence before the end of this month.