A fresh legal challenge to the £1.2bn A5 road upgrade in counties Derry and Tyrone will be heard in March next year, a High Court judge has confirmed.
Mr Justice McAlinden also allowed a group campaigning for improvements along the corridor which has claimed dozens of lives permission to participate in the case.
The road runs through counties Derry and Tyrone and links Donegal and the northwest to Dublin. It is considered one of the most dangerous roads in Ireland.
Granting the status to the ‘A5 Enough is Enough’ body, Justice McAlinden said the court will not refuse to receive information from those that have been directly affected by tragedy resulting from accidents on the existing carriageway.
The long-awaited upgrade to the stretch of road between Derry and Aughnacloy in Co Tyrone was given the go-ahead by Stormont Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd last month.
Work on the first phase of the 85km project had been due to begin early next year.
With 57 deaths recorded on the A5 since 2006, campaigners have demanded improvements to be carried out.
The scheme, which forms part of a proposed key cross-border business route linking Dublin and the north west, has already been held up by previous legal actions.
An umbrella body of landowners, farmers and supporters known as the Alternative A5 Alliance successfully challenged earlier decisions to approve the project in 2013 and again in 2018.
Fresh proceedings have now been brought by nine individuals against the Department for Infrastructure.
They claim the decision to begin the initial phase breaches legislative goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in Northern Ireland.
Read the full report on: www.rte.ie
