The Government is this week expected to commit hundreds of millions of euro to help fund the construction of a major new road in Northern Ireland.
The A5 runs through counties Derry and Tyrone and links Donegal and the northwest to Dublin, and is considered one of the most dangerous roads in Ireland.
Memorials to lost lives are dotted along the route.
Forty-eight people have been killed in collisions along the 93km road since plans for an upgrade were approved by the Stormont Executive 17 years ago.
The A5 Western Transport Corridor would upgrade the road to a dual carriageway running from Aughnacloy, just across the border from Co Monaghan, to Newbuildings in Co Derry, close to the border with Donegal.
The plan is backed by all the main political parties in Northern Ireland, but has been delayed by a series of legal challenges by an opposition group which includes farmers and landowners along the planned route whose land would be compulsorily purchased for the road.
The estimated cost has soared from more than €900m to around €1.9 billion.
The Irish Government initially pledged almost €600m towards the A5 and another major roads project in Co Antrim, but that was later reduced to around €85m.
A number of Shared Island funding announcements are due to be made next week, and campaigners who have met the Taoiseach to discuss the planned upgrade say they are confident the funding level will increase.
"Just last week there was a Shared Island forum meeting and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar offered much more, greater financial support to the scheme," says Niall McKenna, Chair of the A5 Enough is Enough campaign group.
"The Irish Government has always said in the last number of years that they are more than willing to offer greater financial support to the scheme going ahead. That is strategically important to everyone in the north west of the island, particularly the residents of Donegal."
The long planned upgrade was the subject of a public inquiry attended by hundreds of people in Omagh last year.
A report setting out the findings and recommendations was sent to Stormont's Department for Infrastructure in November and is now being considered by its minister, John O'Dowd of Sinn Féin.
The party has said upgrading the A5 will be one of its policy priorities.
"We are very confident that the project will get the go ahead again," says Mr McKenna.
"I think it was very obvious from the public inquiry that the vast majority of people in this area want the scheme to go ahead. It has to happen to stop people being killed on this road."
Many of those who live along the route and use it on a daily basis describe it as a death trap, and say an upgrade is the only way to prevent further deaths.
Patricia Campbell works in a garage shop at Kelly's Inn, right beside where three young men were killed when their car was hit by a lorry as they were crossing the road two years ago.
"I feel nervous every time I use this road," she says.
"There are two exists from Kelly's Inn and then two junctions opposing each other so that's one exits you have to watch, and very few of the cars seem to stick to the 50 mile an hour limit.
"It would be life saving. We had three young boys killed here two years ago and I know numerous people who have been killed and injured between here and Dungannon, between here and Omagh.
"So it's not something that you can delay, it's life saving."
A HGV driver stopped for a break in another garage along the route agrees.
"I've been driving lorries for 37 years and have driven along this road hundreds of times. There is no doubt it is one of the most dangerous roads I've driven," he says.
A white van driver from Donegal stopped at the same garage and says he drives the route several times a week to make deliveries.
"The section down near Aughnacloy is awful," he says.
"I dread driving this road and avoid it if I can."
Approval for the scheme is expected to be reconfirmed in the near future, 16 years after construction work was supposed to start.
A number of major construction companies are believed to be making preparations to recruit the additional staff that will be required.
But the issue could once again go to the courts as the opposition group, known as the Alternative A5 Alliance, has mounted several legal challenges.
