The Infrastructure Minister has confirmed the £130 million York Street Interchange Scheme in Belfast will go-ahead in readiness of funding becoming available.

Minister Chris Hazzard said: "This is an important step in the development of the Interchange which is seeking to address the traffic delays at this heavily congested location. There is no doubt that a scheme of this scale represents a significant investment in our economy. By removing the traffic bottleneck, the new interchange will improve journey time reliability and road safety for motorists, including freight transport, and support the competitiveness of the Port of Belfast with improved links to the strategic road network.

"Plans to deliver the scheme are well advanced. However, the £130million funding remains a major challenge with a number of competing priorities across the Executive. The project could have attracted up to 40% EU funding, but since the referendum vote this funding opportunity is now in doubt. I will need to consider this project together with other priorities as part of my Budget 2017-21, however, the York Street Interchange remains a priority for me and I am committed to do all that I can to deliver the scheme within the current financial context, working with the Finance Minister and other Executive colleagues."

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Alliance Infrastructure spokesperson Kellie Armstrong said: "Belfast was recently found to be the third most congested city in the UK, with the York Street junction seeing an estimated 100,000 vehicles a day. But the Minister has decided instead to prioritise projects such as the A5 and A6.

"While it is important to invest in areas outside of Belfast, we need to approach situations such as these realistically. The York Street junction sees more people stuck in traffic each day than passes through many towns seeing investment in an entire week.

"In light of this news, it is also concerning the Minister plans to extend the motorway the entire way from Lisburn to Belfast. This has the potential to create an even worse bottleneck along the Westlink and York Street unless this interchange is progressed."

(CD/LM)