Mallaghan: Road improvements removal "incomprehensible"

A Mid-Ulster councillor has described as 'incomprehensible' a decision that saw vital road improvements removed near Pomeroy, County Tyrone.

A decision to allow road improvements to be removed near a village in County Tyrone, has been criticised by Cookstown councillor Cathal Mallaghan (SF).

The Loughmallon Road between Pomeroy and Carrickmore had road height measures installed as part of a nearby wind farm project.

They were installed by contractors working on the development to facilitate longer vehicles working on the construction of the nearby turbines.

But once work on the wind farms were completed - the road safety features were swiftly removed.

The particular stretch of road in rural mid-County Tyrone is known for its undulating character - something which posed a particular problem for contractors on the nearby site.

"The Loughmallon Road, which lies just between Pomeroy and Carrickmore, had been closed for cabling and to facilitate the delivery of all the components for a new wind farm," councillor Mallaghan explains.

"Part of the closure meant that the roads dips and heights had been filled in or removed to improve the access for the very long vehicles," he said.

"This was also a great opportunity for local residents and road users to see a very dangerous part of the road benefit from major improvements and new resurfacing," he added.

But much to Cllr. Mallaghans surprise, contractors "reinstated" the roads former "dangerous characteristics".

"The roads heights and dips means there's poor visibility and you're blind when you're travelling across the road," he explained.

"It's a single carriageway road and there's not a lot of room on it - but these improvements changed that - and had made it easier to see things coming. I just can't believe that they've reinstated these heights back on to the road again," he said.

And its that disbelief which has led the Sinn Fein representative to ask: just exactly how did such an "incomprehensible" situation ever come about?

"It's extraordinary that when you spend a lot of time lobbying for road improvements and this is done by a third party without any cost to Transport NI, that they would allow these dangerous road conditions to be reinstated. This would would have to have been approved in a plan by Transport NI before the road could be dug up," he said.

"It's an absolute waste of time and money. Visibility is very difficult here and the removal of the road heights were very welcome. It's incomprehensible that this could happen."