The Alliance Party has hit out at the DUP for "stalling progress" on planned safety improvements to the A1 dual carriageway between Hillsborough and Loughbrickland.

Lagan Valley MLA, Sorcha Eastwood, said the next stage requires Ministerial sign-off and that obviously can't be done due to the DUP’s boycott.

The improvements are to include closing gaps in the central reservation and the provision of a continuous central safety barrier.

She said: "This is an incredibly dangerous stretch of road. In 2018 the Department released a review of road traffic collisions on the carriageway and between 2009 and 2018 there were 41 people killed and 133 seriously injured. Tragically there have been more deaths since 2018.

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"Staff within Department for Infrastructure have been progressing with plans, however, the next stage will require Ministerial sign-off and that obviously can't be done due to the DUP’s boycott. This is just one example of the harmful outworkings of the DUP’s refusal to go into Government.

"To delay this kind of project, which is focused on improving road safety and avoiding further tragic injuries and deaths is shameful.

"I am writing to the Permanent Secretary to explore if there are any other ways to keep the project moving forward and I will also speak to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. We need to find ways to keep essential projects like this progressing."