A public inquiry has begun into a �60m scheme intended to make Northern Ireland's busiest road less of a traffic bottleneck.

The inquiry which opened on Tuesday, is into the widening of the Westlink and part of the M1 to three lanes each way with two new flyovers.

The Westlink, which runs from west Belfast to the dockland area of the city, opened in 1983 to link the M1 and M2 motorways and draw traffic away from the centre of Belfast.

The development plan being examined is exactly the same as a similar inquiry heard in 1977.

Haulage problems

When that scheme was completed six years later there were just two lanes and roundabouts were built instead of the flyovers.

As soon as the new Westlink opened there were traffic jams and it has become steadily busier with longer and longer delays building up at peak times.

The inquiry will take several days to hear the evidence in favour and against the proposed improvements.

Those expressing their views will include community groups worried about the extra traffic, environment groups concerned about more cars, and transport and haulage firms facing increasing problems reaching Belfast port.

Controversy

One organisation keen to see the Westlink developed is the Port of Belfast, to which the road is a lifeline.

On Tuesday, the Department of Regional Development's plans on how the Westlink's three lanes should be used caused controversy.

It was proposed that after an extra lane was added to the road, there should be a dedicated freight transport lane, which could also be combined with public transport.

And the outside lane would be an express lane, which car drivers would have to stay in until the end of the link, making turning off difficult.

If car drivers wanted to come off they would have to move into the slow middle lane reserved for buses and lorries.

The port's Harbour Commissioners expressed concern about the proposals for the inside lane and they are to say more on that on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Friends of the Earth environmental group want the government to accept the road is unaffordable and instead introduce freight priority measures and decent public transport alternatives.

It has also said the Department for Regional Development has neither the finance nor all the statutory permissions required to proceed with the improvement scheme.