Daily traffic delays suffered on a busy stretch of Co Antrim road have been slammed.

Ulster Unionist MLA Roy Beggs Jnr has claimed that a bottleneck caused by the 2.35km stretch of single carriageway wouldn't happen anywhere else.

He was speaking during a Stormont adjournment debate on the proposed widening of the A2 at Greenisland, on the shores of Belfast Lough.

He said the daily rush hour gridlock for East Antrim commuters "would not be tolerated in other parts of Northern Ireland".

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"Imagine if the road between Belfast and Bangor, which is four lanes in its entirety, had a two-lane section at some point and narrowed to a bottleneck.

"There would be uproar; it would not be accepted. The main road between Belfast and Newtownards is also four lanes to the main roundabout at Newtownards.

"Everyone from those areas can imagine what traffic would be like if those roads were narrowed to a single lane in either direction. The bottleneck needs to be removed," he fumed.

The East Antrim MLA highlighted the need for the widening scheme to move ahead by also referring to the need for safe and quick access to acute medical facilities in Belfast and Antrim.

However, the Minister for Regional Development Minister, Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy has confirmed that the long awaited A2 widening scheme had completed all statutory process and was just requiring confirmation of funding. Mr Murphy also said there "is a determination to tackle the bottleneck".

(NS/GK)