Vol. 563 No. 1
176 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Transport the criteria used in the selection of road building projects in the national development plan and the 2003 programme; and the reason he did not accept the National Roads Authority's recommendations in each case. [7127/03]
The NDP sets the strategic framework for the development of the national road network over the period to 2006. The framework is based substantially on the national roads needs study published by the NRA in 1998. In the NDP the Government decided, in the case of five main inter-urban routes, to go beyond the recommendations of the study, to provide for a higher level of service on these routes than proposed in it and to provide for the upgrading of these routes to motorway-dual carriageway standard in their entirety. The Government adopted this approach having regard to developments including traffic growth since 1996, when most of the work on the study was undertaken, the views of economic and regional development interests, and the importance of high quality inter-urban road links between the main urban centres in supporting economic and social development. The road development projects involved will, as part of the detailed planning and design process applicable to all major roads projects, be subject to assessment and evaluation, including cost-benefit analysis, in accordance with Department of Finance guidelines on the approval and management of capital projects.
