Drivers forced to do a double take as road sign for Banbridge is misspelt
THE Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has been accused of “negligence” after updating an out-of-date road sign with a replacement that incorrectly spelt the name of a major Co Down town.
Lurgan motorists were left miffed after a sign near the town’s busy Gilford Road roundabout directed them to take the right lane for ‘Banbrdige’ instead of Banbridge.
To make matters worse, the board had been intended to replace a previous road sign which motorists had labelled “confusing and dangerous” as it con- flicted with new road markings at the roundabout.
Commuters claimed that the original sign at the busy roundabout, which was upgraded as part of the £7m Millennium Way road improvement scheme two years ago, had caused a series of near-misses.
Lurgan DUP councillor Phil Moutray, who drives through the Gilford Road roundabout twice a day, said it was “crazy” that the sign had been put up without the mistake being detected.
“The new road layout was introduced in early summer 2017 and I didn’t think that we would still be facing problems with signage in 2018,” he said.
“It’s a disappointment because the new road is great for the town.
“I think it is a case of negligence on the part of the DfI.
“If it was a printing error, why was it not proof-read?
“There were so many people involved, so the fact that the mistake was not picked up before the sign was placed at the side of the road just beggars belief.”
DUP MLA Carla Lockhart said the sign containing the spelling error had gone up four days ago, and branded the DfI’s mistake “ridiculous”.
“It’s ridiculous, but at the end of the day it’s not a criminal offence,” she said.
“A mistake has been made, and the Roads Service have given a commitment to replace the sign at no charge to the ratepayer.
“We should have a new road sign by Friday.
“The roundabout was part of a £7million upgrade to Millennium Way, but the issue originally was that the sign didn’t match the new road layout.
“I would call on the Roads Service to be more careful in the future.”
The DfI said yesterday that the spelling error had been made at the manufacturing stage.
It said: “The department is aware of this error.
“It will be rectified within the next 24-48 hours at no cost to the department.”