A5 WTC (New Road from Aughnacloy to Derry)

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

According to Ken Reid the Irish government has now pledged the money for the A5 

Speculation it could only be from Strabane to Derry.

& then to Castlebar!

[ziggysego]

mayogodhelpus

[Tony Baloney]

There is a simple solution.

If the new road was going to be 54 miles long with NI Executive going to pay £450 million and the RoI government was providing £400 million, then why not start off by the NI Executive paying for 27 miles of dual carriageway. 

1. Forget the road from Ballygawley to Aughnacloy. 

2. Build the dual carriageway from Ballygawley to Newtownstewart (27 miles) or just beyond Omagh and connect back from Derry to Strabane.  Leave RoI with an incentive to complete either end of the proposed route when it gets the money.

3. Leave the end of the road suitable for continuation when the remaining funds become available or extend it to the border at Strabane by making routing savings or borrowing the rest of the money.

This extends the motorway and dual carriageway from Belfast into the heart of the West making the most of the new dual carriageway from M1 to Ballygawley.

This will provide an infrastructure into West Tyrone which will provide a lifeline for some minimal level of economic development.  To build any more roads in the northern sector of NI builds on years of discrimination against the south west of N.Ireland.  You only have to travel anywhere above Lough Neagh to see the difference in affluence, industry and infrastructure.

This is a test for SF to show it can use the Executive to correct years of wrongs or it lets the money go to the East and shows that the SF ministers and MPs are full of hot air unable to deliver when it matters.  SF owe it to Omagh to extend the road from Ballygawley after the SF Minister took the hospital from the heart of West Tyrone, sent it to Enniskillen away from the major populated areas and left Tyrone without a hospital.

The voters in the West should be prepared to make SF pay for any failure to extend the road from Ballygawley. No road means no economic future.

That would require voters voting on real issues rather than along idealogical lines. We're not good at that round these parts.

[Norf Tyrone]

There is a simple solution.

If the new road was going to be 54 miles long with NI Executive going to pay £450 million and the RoI government was providing £400 million, then why not start off by the NI Executive paying for 27 miles of dual carriageway. 

1. Forget the road from Ballygawley to Aughnacloy. 

2. Build the dual carriageway from Ballygawley to Newtownstewart (27 miles) or just beyond Omagh and connect back from Derry to Strabane.  Leave RoI with an incentive to complete either end of the proposed route when it gets the money.

3. Leave the end of the road suitable for continuation when the remaining funds become available or extend it to the border at Strabane by making routing savings or borrowing the rest of the money.

This extends the motorway and dual carriageway from Belfast into the heart of the West making the most of the new dual carriageway from M1 to Ballygawley.

This will provide an infrastructure into West Tyrone which will provide a lifeline for some minimal level of economic development.  To build any more roads in the northern sector of NI builds on years of discrimination against the south west of N.Ireland.  You only have to travel anywhere above Lough Neagh to see the difference in affluence, industry and infrastructure.

This is a test for SF to show it can use the Executive to correct years of wrongs or it lets the money go to the East and shows that the SF ministers and MPs are full of hot air unable to deliver when it matters.  SF owe it to Omagh to extend the road from Ballygawley after the SF Minister took the hospital from the heart of West Tyrone, sent it to Enniskillen away from the major populated areas and left Tyrone without a hospital.

The voters in the West should be prepared to make SF pay for any failure to extend the road from Ballygawley. No road means no economic future.

Good reasoning and good sense there TYP. The dual carriageway from Ballygawley to the motorway is superb as a side point.

This in the hospitals issue is the real politics that the 'end of the troubles' has allowed us to tackle. Your spot on when you argue that this is a test of Sinn Fein. We'll see.

[oakleafgael]

As someone who would have benefitted greatly from the WTC, both professionally and from day to day use, it is annoying to see it pulled. Looking at it from an engineers point of view the design and scope of the project is from an era when money wasnt an object. It would never have even been proposed without the money from Dublin. The whole project was pushed for political rather than engineering reasons and there are other parts of the NI roads network in far greater need of less expensive work to bring them up to standard.

There is no need for a HQDC from Aughnacloy to Ballygawley, not now and even with the expected traffic volumes in 20 years. If it was ommitted you would save in the region of £200/220 million straight away, although there would be a smaller scheme of approx £10/15 million required to straighten parts of the existing road.

What is required for the A5 in its current state is

A complete bypass of Omagh with GSJ connecting the roads to Cookstown and Enniskillen.

A complete bypass of Strabane with GSJ connecting the road to Lifford, the current design for the WTC could simply be adopted as it would serve this purpose well and allow for future development.

A new road from Strabane to Derry, there is no real scope for online improvements on this stretch of the A5 and a new road would be the most cost effective option. It would make good sense to finish this future proofed for connection to the A6 to the east and for the proposed third road bridge over the Foyle.

The problem now faced is that there is a pot of £400 million that needs to be spent with in the next 5 years. There is no guarantee that this will stay with DRD for roads but if it does it will have to be spent on schemes that are nearly ready to go to tender, anything that hasnt already had a public inquiry if one is required wont stand a chance of completion in the timescale.

The schemes most advanced at the minute are the upgrade of the A6 Randalstown to Castledawson and the A2 at Greenisland.

The Irish Goverment are playing a cute game and are likely to come out shortly and offer a much reduced figure to show their political commitment to the scheme but not enough to complete any substantial works.

[Tony Baloney]

Good post oakleafgael from an "insider".

It is believed by the BBC that Enda is only offering in the region of €50 million which is a bit shy of the original amount!

[Maguire01]

All they need to do is lower their ambitions for the road in line with actual need (i.e. volume of traffic). I read somewhere else that at the end of the Dual Carriageway at Ballygawley, more traffic uses the road to Enniskillen than the road to Omagh. Along a lot of the proposed route, the volume of traffic comes nowhere close to the levels to that would be required to justify this standard of road in the appraisal of other schemes.

Use the money to bypass the towns and add in 2+1 lane sections along the entire length with maybe Dual Carriageway on town bypasses and heading into Derry.

I use the Ballygawley to Aughnacloy section a lot and the idea that it needs Dual Carriageway is ridiculous. Straighten / widen the road, cut out the village and create a few overtaking lanes. Considering this has already been done for the first mile on that road, it would be a relatively cheap and proportionate solution to bring the road up to an appropriate standard.

[Maguire01]

It is believed by the BBC that Enda is only offering in the region of €50 million which is a bit shy of the original amount!

Yep, looks like £42m - half in 2015, the other half in 2016, so it's not even in the current NI budget period.

[LeoMc]

the reduced offer coming in late is a good 'out' for Stormont. There is no reason Stormont couldn't spend their half anyway by-passing Omagh and Strabane, perhaps dualling Ballygawley to Omagh or Strabane to Derry but no doubt that £400m will be spent furter east.
Dublin was also supposed to part finance the M8 extension to Larne, what is the status of that project?

[ziggysego]

I'm hearing that Sammy Wilson is making an announcement tomorrow that the duelling of this road is back on, from Ballygawley to Omagh, possibly to Derry.

[Moortown Spuds]

Heard this too. In fact its been common knowledge that it is back on. Seems there was some high stakes bluffing going on all along. The contractor for the Ballygawley to Omagh section has been actively recruiting for the A5.

[WeeDonns]

I read somewhere else that at the end of the Dual Carriageway at Ballygawley, more traffic uses the road to Enniskillen than the road to Omagh.

Would be interested in reading that if you can find a link, or even remember the paper?
I'd be surprised if it were true.


This is good news if it goes ahead. I know there are definitely valid arguments against the need for a full dual carriageway, but feck it, if we can get it we'll take it!

Do many posters on here do a daily commute along the A5 to Belfast? Does it do your head in? I only go up on a Monday & down on a Friday ATM, but thinking of doing the daily commute from April on.

[EC Unique]

Excellent news if true.

[Moortown Spuds]

Good boost for employment in the area. Might stop the drain of young people heading overseas.

One thing, if the tender was sent out for re-pricing the taxpayer would save millions.

[LeoMc]

I read somewhere else that at the end of the Dual Carriageway at Ballygawley, more traffic uses the road to Enniskillen than the road to Omagh.

Would be interested in reading that if you can find a link, or even remember the paper?
I'd be surprised if it were true.


This is good news if it goes ahead. I know there are definitely valid arguments against the need for a full dual carriageway, but feck it, if we can get it we'll take it!

Do many posters on here do a daily commute along the A5 to Belfast? Does it do your head in? I only go up on a Monday & down on a Friday ATM, but thinking of doing the daily commute from April on.

The Omagh to Ballygawley bit does my head in. Ballygawley to Dungannon is superb considering what was there before.