Newry councillor Frank Feely agreed with the AA Motoring Trust's Head of Safety, Andrew Howard, that the £25m Beech Hill dual carriageway on the A1 in Co Down was "hazardous".

"That road is based on a 1960s design, which leaves all junctions along the road open to farm machinery etc.

"Mr Howard also indicated that junctions are a major killer on this type of road and UK statistics show that 60% of all accidents happen at these junctions."

Cllr Feely called the road safety expert's verdict of the new dual carriageway "damning".

The councillor also condemned as "inept" a Roads Service statement that said there were "no current plans to close the gaps in the central reservation" between Loughbrickland and Beech Hill because of " lower traffic levels".

"Apart from morning and evening rush hour traffic on all minor roads, the A1 is the busiest road in Northern Ireland," he said.

"It carries the greatest tonnage of goods between Dublin and Belfast, as well as over 30,000 cars per day. This has steadily increased at weekends because of football, racing, rugby, concerts etc taking place in both Belfast and Dublin."

Mr Feely said that Roads Service senior management "against all expert advice, including senior political representations, obviously believe that second class roads are good enough for the people of Banbridge, Newry and Mourne".

He also backed UUP Lagan Valley MLA Billy Bell's description of the situation as "farcical" and agreed that "it has been apparent for years that this should have been a motorway".

He added: "At the first public enquiry, SDLP south Down councillor PJ Bradley made a detailed presentation on the need to get rid of junctions, pointing out how dangerous they were and the number of accidents that take place on them."

He also stated that then-MLA John Fee gave a detailed presentation proving that a motorway instead of a dual carriageway all the way to the border was the only viable proposition - not just from Loughbrickland to Beech Hill.

"As the various volumes of the final report show, both Assemblymen's representations were ignored," he said.

"The abridged version of the report is a waste of the time."