‘Another 11 years’ until York Street interchange in Belfast is built, Stormont committee hears

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The project was first commissioned in 2007 to address a major bottleneck in Belfast [2] where some of the busiest roads in Northern Ireland [3] meet. It is set to replace the existing signalised junctions at York Street with direct links between Westlink [4], the M2 and M3. It is also to separate traffic via underpasses below the existing road and rail bridges and underneath a new bridge at York Street.

A map of the York Street interchange from the 2012 launch of the project.

However, the project has been delayed by a number of objections, legal action and a public inquiry in 2015.

In the same year, the project was estimated to cost between GBP120m - GBP165 million. In 2020, then-infrastructure minister Nichola Mallon [5] announced a "short, sharp" external review of the project to help future-proof the scheme. The project was included in the 2020 New Decade New Approach deal, and securing funding for it was also part of the DUP's confidence and supply agreement with former prime minister Theresa May [6] in 2017.

It recently emerged that some GBP23.7 million had been spent on the project by the end of March 2023. An Assembly question response by Infrastructure Minister John O'Dowd also revealed that a further GBP1 million has been allocated for the 2023/24 financial year. However, the Stormont scrutiny committee for the Department for Infrastructure heard on Wednesday that it is not likely to be built for another 11 years.

Committee chairwoman Deborah Erskine said that information came in a letter from Mr O'Dowd to the committee. "The York Street interchange, as we know, has been an issue for many years, and the last paragraph seems to indicate that it is stalled and would be another 11 years before completion once it is restarted, which is highly disappointing and very frustrating, to be blunt about it," she told the committee. "With traffic into Belfast, this is a huge issue.

It has been on many different programmes for governments and priorities. "From a party political point of view in terms of my own party, confidence and supply money was also sought out in relation to York Street Interchange, so from my point of view it is very frustrating." She said she intends to write to the minister to ask what the money has been spent on so far.

"I would like to see where the funding has went so far in relation to the development, and get a proper break down in relation to the costs," she said. "Eleven years is crazy." A Department for Infrastructure spokesman said: "Major road schemes are an important part of the work that is delivered by the department as we seek to reduce journey times, increase reliability and improve road safety.

"Some ongoing work to investigate placemaking and active travel opportunities as part of the York Street Interchange scheme is now almost complete and will be with the minister in the coming weeks for his consideration. "When that work is completed development work on the scheme will be paused in accordance with the department's prioritised list of major road schemes which were published on August 14 2023. "Schemes to be placed on a future major works programme will be informed by the department's emerging transport plans and available budgets."

Wesley Johnston, a media commentator on roads, responded: "The scheme has no construction funding allocation before 2025, and with money being primarily focused on the A5 as well as the Enniskillen and Cookstown Bypasses, it's hard to see it getting funding any time soon.

It's not an Executive Flagship project either which means neither the DUP nor Sinn Fein prioritised it in the last Executive."

He thinks the project may have "missed the boat" due to rising climate concerns, but on the plus side, if built, it would take all traffic from NI's busiest road junction "down below ground level".

References

^ Visit Shots! now (www.shotstv.com)
^ Belfast (www.newsletter.co.uk)
^ Northern Ireland (www.newsletter.co.uk)
^ Westlink (www.newsletter.co.uk)
^ Nichola Mallon (www.newsletter.co.uk)
^ Theresa May (www.newsletter.co.uk)