Owain wrote: ↑Tue Nov 27, 2018 20:56
Euan wrote: ↑Mon Nov 26, 2018 09:44
c2R wrote: ↑Sun Nov 25, 2018 23:18
I fundamentally disagree - I travel through Belfast all the time to access the south and west of the island, as does a large amount of freight. Improving York Street directly improves freight and passenger journeys through the city to onward destinations. Strategic road policy should prioritise areas of significant congestion on strategic routes, and not be about political point scoring, vanity projects, or unlocking development. For the entire island, therefore, making the ports of Larne, Belfast, Dublin, Rosslare, and Ringaskiddy as accessible as possible must be a priority, and to do this means that in the north York Street is of enormous strategic value.
Whilst access to the main ports in Ireland is obviously a priority, it is also true that transport infrastructure in the north western quarter of the island is generally not acceptable. Primarily this is probably as a result of the area being regarded as peripheral in relation to both Dublin and Belfast. Yes the region is generally quite sparsely populated, but the A5 is part of the direct route from Dublin to Derry and it is yet to be dualled. It's not really a case of attaining equality for western parts of NI compared to the east, but more a case of having a road that is somewhat fit or purpose these days. Also, large swathes of Fermanagh, Tyrone and Donegal have no railways for more than 30 miles and therefore need adequate and safe road connections to Dublin and Belfast at least.
It seems like an age now (two-and-a-half years) since I lived in Derry!
In my view the reason why the A5 needs dualling before either the A6, the A37 Coleraine-Limavady Road, or the York Street Interchange is not so much because it is so congested, but because it is currently of such a truly diabolical standard. IMV, it's the worst Ax or Axx road in the entire UK ... and I've driven most of them in their entirety!
The A6 and A37 both have ample overtaking opportunities, but the A5 has very few. The A6 and A37 each pass through very few settlements with 30 or 40 limits, whereas the A5 passes through one after the other between Derry and Strabane. The A5 is vastly inferior to either the A6 or the A37, neither of which did I ever find unpleasant to drive (even if I often opted for a bit of 'fun' on the Murder Hole B201 instead of sticking to the main road).
Owain, you never had to go through Castledawson and Toome
Anyway, I'll see your A5 and raise you the A20. I was discussing it this afternoon: someone was pointing out that when they have to travel to Portaferry, the worst part of the journey is the D2/S4 section from Dundonald westwards. Once you hit the Portaferry Road out of Newtownards, you're onto a normal width S2 with no overtaking opportunities.
It's a much lower standard than the rest of the A20, as well as far lower than the A5 - think worse than the A82 round Loch Lomond. It also takes less time to travel from Newtownards to Portaferry than the rather shorter distance from south Belfast to Newtownards, and this is where frostyj's arguments fall apart.
Granted, the A20 is in the east of NI (is there any point mentioning that Portadown, Scarva, and Poyntzpass, all of which have railway stations, are all west of the Bann?) but any attempt to improve it is going to have minimal benefits. Yes, there are safety concerns due to collisions, but when drivers are acting reasonably, the only problem they face is the inability to overtake.
In terms of impacts on business and the quality of individual human lives, a few tractors between Limavady, Derry and Strabane are a minor inconvenience compared to thousands of vehicles more than the junction can handle converging on York Street Interchange.