B39 (Northern Ireland)
B39 | ||||||||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
From: | Belfast (J337746) | |||||||||
To: | Antrim (J167855) | |||||||||
Distance: | 14.4 miles (23.2 km) | |||||||||
Meets: | A6, A11, B502, A55, A52, A26 | |||||||||
Old route now: | A52, A26 | |||||||||
Primary Destinations | ||||||||||
Highway Authorities | ||||||||||
Traditional Counties | ||||||||||
Route outline (key) | ||||||||||
|
The B39 is the most direct classified route between Belfast and Antrim.
The road starts in Belfast city centre. It originally began on the A6 Royal Avenue and headed west along North Street but the former road is now partly closed to traffic. The exact present starting point of the B39 depends on which map you are looking at: it could be the A6 Donegall Street or the A11 Millfield. Either way, the B39 then heads west up Peters Hill before going over the A12 which is in cutting here. The road continues west along Shankill Road and Woodvale Road to reach a roundabout, where it meets the A55 and A52.
This is the start of a multiplex along the A52, and the B39 does not reappear for nearly five miles. On classification in 1923, the A52 did not exist and the road was entirely B39. It eventually regains its number at Clady Corner where the A52 continues ahead along what was the B13.
From Clady Corner our road heads northwestwards along the aptly named Seven Mile Straight. The B39 runs arrow-straight across the fields and even crosses a bridge over the A57 so as not to have to stop. Eventually the Antrim suburb of Muckamore is reached and after not quite seven miles since leaving the A52 the B39 reaches a T-junction on the A26. The road ends here although prior to the latter road's being rerouted in the 1970s, the B39 turned right to continue along what is now the A26 to cross the river and railway line and end on the A6.