Speaking before the A5 funding was confirmed, Niall McKenna from the campaign group Enough is Enough, which was set up after the death of John Rafferty in 2020, said he was “confident” the new road upgrade would happen.
He was speaking on BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme.
“So many have been affected by death on this road [A5] – this road is quite literally killing our members and we have a duty of care to see that end,” he said.
Mr McKenna said there had been a “sea change” in attitude.
“The general public are not prepared to accept the non-delivery of it [A5] anymore,” he added.
Hamilton Hazzard, a farmer in Omagh for more than 30 years, is opposed to the A5 road plan.
“I’m probably going to lose 13% of my acreage off my farm – that’s not the whole reason why I object to it – the existing road should have been improved years ago and we’ve constantly advocated for it’s improvement.
“We are certainly against the proposed scheme, we’re not against improvement of the road – in fact we’re for the improvement of the road,” he added.
Mr Hazzard said road improvements could be made without the loss of land.
He added: “The road should have been improved with plenty of passing options, straighten it where it’s appropriate and lay-bys placed and you could have had an excellent road without the need to sacrifice 3,000 acres of prime agricultural quality land.”