Northern Irish road numbering scheme.

bothar · **Posted:** Tue Jun 19, 2012 14:42

Quote:

I can't think what UVF might refer to, especially given that this map was produced in 1970.

The 1950s OSNI map shows a "UVF hospital" across the Upper Galwally road from Forestside.

Maps are always interesting!

nirs · **Posted:** Tue Jun 19, 2012 15:09

bothar wrote:

Quote:

I can't think what UVF might refer to, especially given that this map was produced in 1970.

The 1950s OSNI map shows a "UVF hospital" across the Upper Galwally road from Forestside.

Maps are always interesting!

Ah, I think that answers it! The UVF Hospital was named after the historical partition-era UVF, rather than the late 20th century paramilitary organisation of the same name. Amazingly, it seems to have kept this name until 1992!

A42_Sparks · **Posted:** Tue Jun 19, 2012 17:24

nirs wrote:

There's a few errors on that map. Braniel and Stranmillis both spelt incorrectly. Also not sure why the townland of Ballydownfine is given so much prominence on the western side of the map. That place name is barely known outside the immediate area. It's clearly not been drawn by a person with local knowledge of Belfast.

I can't think what UVF might refer to, especially given that this map was produced in 1970.

I'm fascinated to see Upper Knockbreda Road labelled "(Hill Foot Road)". It was called Hillfoot Road right up until the dual-carriageway was built in 1959. Nobody except the elderly use that name now, but this suggests that in 1970 the old name was still used often enough to make it worth including. The name Hillfoot Road actually extended all the way to Knock.

nirs I have the 1972 version of that map and the name Ballydownfine has been completely removed. The only other difference I can see from the 1970 map is that the M1 and M2 are clearly labelled. The 1972 map seems to cover a slightly larger area e.g. the M1 extends past Finaghy and the UVF Hospital is labelled as such. I suspect the 1970 map has been cropped at the edges when uploaded. Unfortunately I don't have a scanner or I would upload the 1972 version myself.

si404 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 19, 2012 17:39

A42_Sparks wrote:

The 1972 map seems to cover a slightly larger area e.g. the M1 extends past Finaghy and the UVF Hospital is labelled as such.

I cropped off some of the edges.

si404 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 20, 2012 15:59

Going through the B roads on the wiki, and making their pages better stubs, I've noticed really bizarre routes. B2 and B3 have long spurs, B15 and B16 form big loops. And I've not got that far.

Not sure how they are numbered, though there's lots of pattern where numbers travel one direction in order, but there's weird jumps and such like (B4 completely out of place, for instance).

nirs · **Posted:** Wed Jun 20, 2012 16:23

Roads Service were asked by a politician back in 1999 to explain the weird numbering system in use here. This was their reply:

Roads Service wrote:

"Road classification dates back a very considerable time (pre Local Government Reorganisation) and its use today is limited to route identification. Any new road outside a motorway would be classified on the basis of the comparable route classification in the area. Roads Service have been unable to find any historic record of how the classification system was determined originally but it has no relevance to current funding allocations."

bothar · **Posted:** Wed Jun 20, 2012 18:52

Quote:

B15 and B16 form big loops

The likes of the B46 was fairly logical in the original 1923 scheme, but then grew back on itself later on (like my garden).

I expect the local county councils had a hand in this chaos.

Steven · **Posted:** Thu Jul 05, 2012 17:53

I don't want to get anyone too excited as there's a lot of work to do:

From the 1926 OSNI Road Map - the NI equivalent of the MoT Maps.

They're each split into 16 scans, then the dissections need to be taken out before it can go onto SABRE Maps.

Any volunteers?

PS - I've got the 1935 one too...

Ritchie333 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 05, 2012 17:59

Steven wrote:

I don't want to get anyone too excited

OMG! NI MOT Maps! PARTY! :bow:

Steven wrote:

They're each split into 16 scans, then the dissections need to be taken out before it can go onto SABRE Maps.

Any volunteers?

I have done enough dissection removal to last me a lifetime, but (AFAIK) I think I'm the only one on SABRE who's actually got a process to do it.

I'm going for a bike ride, and when I get back I expect the whole lot in my dropbox, or I will change your location to "Birmingham" permanently and make it impossible for an admin to revert. :twisted:

si404 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 05, 2012 18:48

While I've not had any real success at splicing images together yet, dump it in my dropbox too - if nothing but to get a sneak peek!

nowster · **Posted:** Thu Jul 05, 2012 19:35

Ritchie333 wrote:

I'm going for a bike ride, and when I get back I expect the whole lot in my dropbox, or I will change your location to "Birmingham" permanently and make it impossible for an admin to revert. :twisted:

Well, theoretically, I could... but I'd need a hefty bribe.

EDIT: Bonus points if you set the immutable bit in the filing system. :wink:

swarkestonecauseway · **Posted:** Thu Jul 05, 2012 19:59

Got nothing but spare time for 3 weeks or so. I have no idea what to do, but if someone explained it I'd be willing to have a go (something to keep me occupied :laugh:

)

si404 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 06, 2012 00:21

Steven wrote:

PS - I've got the 1935 one too...

But sadly not a 1923 one that shows the B11 (Northern Ireland) (now A2), B19 (Northern Ireland) (now A42), B22 (Northern Ireland) (now A48), B24 (Northern Ireland) (now A49), B26 (Northern Ireland) (now A50), B29 (Northern Ireland) (now A51), B61 (Northern Ireland) (now A43), B63 (Northern Ireland) (now A44) or B71 (Northern Ireland) (now A40).

At least we got the B13 (Northern Ireland) (now A52), B60 (Northern Ireland) (now A42) and B65 (Northern Ireland) (now A54) on maps. Plus a duplicate B37 (come on, 37 again!) that became the extension of the A501 (the original is the now-N3-route).

Edit:the A42 west of Ballymena existed before the A42 east of Ballymena

Steven · **Posted:** Fri Jul 06, 2012 00:23

si404 wrote:

Steven wrote:

PS - I've got the 1935 one too...

But sadly not a 1923 one

That's because there wasn't one apparently. It seems that the 1926 printing was the first one.

si404 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 06, 2012 00:37

Steven wrote:

That's because there wasn't one apparently. It seems that the 1926 printing was the first one.

So I gathered. Just that a map with the original stuff would be very cool, perhaps I might have a go at doctoring the '26 one to match the road lists.

They changed a lot quickly.

bothar · **Posted:** Fri Jul 06, 2012 06:57

Quote:

So I gathered. Just that a map with the original stuff would be very cool, perhaps I might have a go at doctoring the '26 one to match the road lists.

A 1923 map would have good work, as the road lists were published in mid December and probably didn't exist before that.

si404 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 06, 2012 12:54

bothar wrote:

A 1923 map would have good work, as the road lists were published in mid December and probably didn't exist before that.

It was obvious what I meant - a map with the 1923 roads on and nothing more. I can't help but think some of the changes (A40, A2 gap removal) were very early - like April 1924 early - they'd have to have been to have the A42-A47 and A48-A51 addition sets before the 1926 map came out.

Ritchie333 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 06, 2012 15:04

Steven put the 1931-35 MOT map in my dropbox (cheers) and this is now online under the "1926-28 MOT Half Inch" layer. I don't want to publicise this too much yet as the higher resolution tiles seem to have been completely screwed up and need redoing (due to me trying - and evidently failing - to cut a few corners). ETA for fixing that will be around midnight (I can just leave the script running while I go out and do other stuff).

Steven · **Posted:** Wed Aug 08, 2012 08:34

I now have scanned copies of the following OSNI Northern Ireland Road Maps (as well as a real, paper copy of the 1939 one!!!!)

1926
1931-35
1939
1953
1961

Any volunteers to try to get them on SABRE Maps? And yes, it is only the 1926 one that's dissected...

(and if we do that, Ritchie, can we have a new "OSNI Historic Maps" section please?)

nirs · **Posted:** Wed Aug 15, 2012 20:43

Steven wrote:

I now have scanned copies of the following OSNI Northern Ireland Road Maps (as well as a real, paper copy of the 1939 one!!!!)...

I was away for a fortnight at the start of August, and have only just seen this. This is super news - thank you for getting these. I have no idea what's involved in getting them on Sabre Maps or what dissection involves. If I can be of any help, however, I can use Photoshop...!

Northern Irish road numbering scheme.

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