Belfast's York Street Interchange 'could take 11 years'

The scheme is designed to ease congestion at the junctions of Belfast's M1, M2 and M3 with a new bridge and underpass

Belfast's York Street Interchange road project could take another 11 years to complete, a Stormont assembly committee has heard.

It was first commissioned in 2007 to address a traffic bottleneck between the Westlink, M2 and M3 - three of Northern Ireland's busiest roads.

Infrastructure Minister John O'Dowd said in a letter that the project was "not progressing at present".

Future works would depend on available budgets, his department said.

The project is estimated to cost between £120m and £165m, with almost £24m spent so far.

It was included in the New Decade New Approach Agreement which led to the restoration of devolved government in 2020.

Securing funding for it was part of a confidence and supply agreement in 2017 between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and then Prime Minister Theresa May.

But work on the project has been held up due to issues including a successful legal challenge to the tendering process.

• Major road schemes paused over budget shortfall

An external review was commissioned in 2020 by former infrastructure minister Nichola Mallon, who later asked for a further review to consider "place-making and active travel" within the plans.

In a letter to the infrastructure committee, seen by BBC News NI, Mr O'Dowd said the road scheme was "not progressing at present".

He said that "whenever it does progress again", there could be a two-year public inquiry, further development work lasting "at least five years, followed by four years of construction period".

'Crazy'

The letter was raised at the committee on Wednesday by DUP assembly member Deborah Erskine, chair of the infrastructure committee.

She said it seemed "to indicate that it's stalled and would be another 11 years before completion once it's restarted".

Mrs Erskine described it as "highly disappointing and very frustrating" and said she intended to write to the minister.

"I would like to see where the funding has went so far in relation to the development - get a proper breakdown in relation to the costs," she told the committee.

"Eleven years is crazy."

A Department for Infrastructure spokeswoman said major road schemes were 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 place-making 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 14 August 2023.

"Schemes to be placed on a future major works programme will be informed by the department's emerging transport plans and available budgets."