Regular “white line” demonstrations are to take place on the main Derry to Belfast road in protest at the delay in constructing a bypass around the only town on the busy route.
Dungiven Main Street.
Residents in Dungiven are angered that plans to construct a bypass have once again been ignored in the latest round of funding announcements for roads across the North. Indeed, no money been made available for any road improvements in the North West.
The protests are to be held in the town monthly for the foreseeable future until progress is made on securing a bypass for the town.
The residents claim a bypass would alleviate health problems caused by the exhaust fumes coming from the heavy traffic passing through the town’s narrow main street.
According to local Sinn Fein Councillor Sean McGlinchey local people were “fed up” with the lack of progress on the scheme
Revealing protest details, he said: “There will be a white-line picket in the town on Friday between four and five. We are looking at doing it once a month. After that we will sit down with the Dungiven Bypass Committee and try and work out the best way forward.”
Cllr McGlinchey said the decision not to finance a bypass was a “political” one.
He said: “I don’t want to go into the politics of it but that is what it is. It is a political decision in my eyes to overlook Dungiven and the North West.
“The country is on its knees and you have people making decisions like that. The whole system is a joke. I have to say it’s a bloody joke for Dungiven to be overlooked.
“For the people living along the Main Street there are serious health concerns. Anybody driving from Derry to Belfast could tell you that the stretch of road from Toome to Derry is one of the worst sections.”
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