A disused road going nowhere, last travelled as a through route prior to the 1967 opening of the M1, has received a multi-thousand pound resurfacing upgrade, it has emerged.
Residents and representatives have reacted with bafflement at the near £10,000 upgrade of the road outside Dungannon.
The newly minted surface ends in a bank of dirt and a fence, and there are no properties on the 80-metre stretch of Culnagrew Road.
It was used as a through road branching off from the main Killyman road in Dungannon more than five decades ago but was cut off from the rest of the Culnagrew Road following the construction of the nearby motorway.
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A Department for Infastructure spokesperson said: “The Culnagrew Road is an adopted road and therefore the Department has a duty to inspect and repair any actionable defects twice a year. While the Department is aware that the road is lightly trafficked there is an economy of scale to resurface the road rather than let it deteriorate further making it much more expensive project to undertake.
"The Department also has a duty of care to the public regardless of how many people make use of a certain piece of infrastructure and ensure that the road network is fit for purpose."
The spokesperson added: "The Department examines various options before carrying out maintenance works but unfortunately the existing surface of the carriageway had disintegrated and broken up to such an extent that surface dressing (spray and chip) was not deemed to be a viable option.
"The works were completed using the Roads Recovery budget which was introduced in 2021. This funding is earmarked to address areas of concern across the road network in Northern Ireland, with a particular focus on rural areas. The recent works undertaken will future proof this particular stretch of road for the next 20 years saving scarce resources in the longer term.” The department said the work was carried out at a cost of under £10,000.
Roads expert Wesley Johnston said "if a road is adopted, it means DFI have a legal responsibility to maintain it to a suitable standard. Whether or not it leads to anything isn’t relevant. If it’s adopted, they have to take care of it.".
"In practice, it would be rare to resurface a road like this but if it got to the point where the surface was actually breaking up then they’d have to repair it," Mr Johnston added.
"Often if a road is genuinely no longer needed, DFI go through a process of 'abandonment', which is the legal process of making themselves no longer legally responsible for the road."
One nearby resident told the Tyrone Courier: "I just can't comprehend why it's been done. The road serves no purpose and there's so many other roads that actually need worked on.
"It is just completely bizarre. Never in my lifetime has there even been a pothole on that road. It's a completely disused road. There isn't even tractor access into the fields. It is literally the road to nowhere."
DUP Councillor Clement Cuthbertson said on social media: "As the representative for the Dungannon area, I am continually calling for investment in the road network. While this stretch of the Culnagrew Road (which is a dead end) is in the area, it is not exactly what I had in mind."