A6(NI) dualling to start

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Chris5156
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

Post by Chris5156 »

c2R wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 19:16However, I can just hear in the back of my head Bryn telling me that this is all the sort of stuff that England did in the 70s and 80s, and that creating gyratories and flattening parts of the town to add new roads in isn't the solution.... ;)
Well, yes… the practice of commandeering back streets and residential roads to form parts of gyratories and one way systems was called “spreading the load” and was discredited in the 1963 Buchanan Report. It’s interesting that NI is still at it!
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

Post by bothar »

There is some dissatisfaction that the Dungiven bypass, which was open with one lane and a speed restriction, has now been closed again and will remain that way until the Spring. While closing a section again for a short period to finish things off is not unusual, 8 months is not usual I would have thought.
https://twitter.com/paulmccloskey12/sta ... 9741630464
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

Post by wallmeerkat »

bothar wrote: Sat Oct 22, 2022 13:22 There is some dissatisfaction that the Dungiven bypass, which was open with one lane and a speed restriction, has now been closed again and will remain that way until the Spring. While closing a section again for a short period to finish things off is not unusual, 8 months is not usual I would have thought.
https://twitter.com/paulmccloskey12/sta ... 9741630464
What shambles. I drove it in July and while it was a long trek single file at 40mph, it seemed mostly complete barring signage and completion of the central barrier wire.

That twitter thread suggests a shortfall in funding, which given the lack of an NI executive (without going into politics) seems it isn't going to be freed up any time soon. Is spring waiting on the new financial year?
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

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A question I think of approval of the cost of variations to the contract.
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

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Gregory Campbell complaining, although if his party went back into government it might well improve things

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-63726495
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

Post by DeptForLameExcuses »

Online discussion later today by the Department of Infrastructure, and the contractors
Takes place at 18.15, see here
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

Post by A42_Sparks »

The Claudy to Dungiven section will finally open this Thursday with NSL limit.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-65170231
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

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"I intend to always travel a different road"
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

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This road is now fully open.

While it is common in the Republic of Ireland for Dublin to be linked to major cities at very least by expressway, this is not the norm in the UK and in fact the Belfast-Derry route is in my view considerably better than comparable routes in GB, for the most part.

If you compare, for example, the 72 miles from City Hall to Guildhall with the 54 miles from Newcastle to Carlisle or any of a range of routes along the English south coast, it is now undoubtedly superior - from York Street on the edge of Belfast City Centre to Drumahoe on the outskirts of Derry, almost three quarters of the route is at least expressway with a small section of lower-grade dual carriageway at Toome added even to that; even the remainder, over Glenshane between Magherafelt and Dungiven, is wide single carriageway with hard shoulders (and regular 2x1).

An issue now will be what happens at Drumahoe; the initial proposal was to take the road north at that point to the Caw roundabout on the Derry-Limavady road, but this is rendered impossible by the discovery of an illegal dump. I do wonder, if anything, if a route to the south to link up with the A5 towards Strabane may end up being prioritised. We shall see (well, those of you younger than I am might anyway...!)
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

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IJP1 wrote: Thu Apr 06, 2023 14:02 This road is now fully open.

While it is common in the Republic of Ireland for Dublin to be linked to major cities at very least by expressway, this is not the norm in the UK and in fact the Belfast-Derry route is in my view considerably better than comparable routes in GB, for the most part.

If you compare, for example, the 72 miles from City Hall to Guildhall with the 54 miles from Newcastle to Carlisle or any of a range of routes along the English south coast, it is now undoubtedly superior - from York Street on the edge of Belfast City Centre to Drumahoe on the outskirts of Derry, almost three quarters of the route is at least expressway with a small section of lower-grade dual carriageway at Toome added even to that; even the remainder, over Glenshane between Magherafelt and Dungiven, is wide single carriageway with hard shoulders (and regular 2x1).

An issue now will be what happens at Drumahoe; the initial proposal was to take the road north at that point to the Caw roundabout on the Derry-Limavady road, but this is rendered impossible by the discovery of an illegal dump. I do wonder, if anything, if a route to the south to link up with the A5 towards Strabane may end up being prioritised. We shall see (well, those of you younger than I am might anyway...!)
Could you explain why you consider it impossible to deal with the dump and build the road (at some point)?
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

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I am afraid it took almost 20 years just for the current section to get built; they've known about the dump for ten years and thus far frankly done nothing about it.

This is all happening at a time when the budget is now extremely tight and political priorities will a) shift to things other than road building; b) shift to easier bypass projects (such as A24 Ballynahinch, A4 Enniskillen and perhaps A29 Cookstown); and c) shift as far as main roads are concerned to the A5.

I'm 45. I don't expect to see it built. Indeed, in the end I think it likelier that we'll ultimately see the Lismacarol roundabout (the end point of the A6 expressway northwestbound) link to a southern bypass of Derry rather than an eastern one, perhaps to the planned terminus northbound of the A5 expressway near Newbuildings; but tbh I don't expect to see that either!
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

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There’s also the consideration that the UK is full of roads with unfinished ends, where the main problem was solved and the project was designed for continuation but the continuation was a more minor project that never ended up being important enough to be built.

The extension towards the Foyle Bridge would be useful but it’s hard to see it being considered so crucial that politicians can justify spending money on it.
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

Post by wallmeerkat »

Tirbracken to Crescent Link will be the North West's A8000

If the illegal dump means it can't meet the A2, this strip of land in a New Build just off Crescent link looks like it might just squeeze a narrow A2-Greenisland-style dual carraigeway through https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mobuo ... 2F1tdj__dh
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

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IJP1 wrote: Thu Apr 06, 2023 14:02 This road is now fully open.

While it is common in the Republic of Ireland for Dublin to be linked to major cities at very least by expressway, this is not the norm in the UK and in fact the Belfast-Derry route is in my view considerably better than comparable routes in GB, for the most part.

If you compare, for example, the 72 miles from City Hall to Guildhall with the 54 miles from Newcastle to Carlisle or any of a range of routes along the English south coast, it is now undoubtedly superior - from York Street on the edge of Belfast City Centre to Drumahoe on the outskirts of Derry, almost three quarters of the route is at least expressway with a small section of lower-grade dual carriageway at Toome added even to that; even the remainder, over Glenshane between Magherafelt and Dungiven, is wide single carriageway with hard shoulders (and regular 2x1).

An issue now will be what happens at Drumahoe; the initial proposal was to take the road north at that point to the Caw roundabout on the Derry-Limavady road, but this is rendered impossible by the discovery of an illegal dump. I do wonder, if anything, if a route to the south to link up with the A5 towards Strabane may end up being prioritised. We shall see (well, those of you younger than I am might anyway...!)
Don’t tell the A5 campaigners that you’ve been comparing Belfast and Derry to Newcastle and Carlisle. They think they are the equivalent of London and Edinburgh and haven’t noticed that nobody would want to use the motorway only route.
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

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Where exactly is/was the illegal dump? I've looked along the likely route of the road and can't see anything problematic on aerial photos.
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

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Chris5156 wrote: Thu Apr 13, 2023 21:42 Where exactly is/was the illegal dump? I've looked along the likely route of the road and can't see anything problematic on aerial photos.
Mobouy Road https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/mo ... on-project

https://www.google.com/maps/@55.0047584 ... a=!3m1!1e3

With my plan of squeezing the road in that new development by the Premier Inn, they would avoid this entirely
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

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Re Scotland-England, the obvious comparison there (from another thread) is that the Belfast-Dublin road is like Glasgow-London used to be, with the section north of the border a substandard dual carriageway and south a motorway. I suspect the ultimate outcome will be similar, with the entire Northern Ireland A1 being replaced around mid-century (conceivably, as with the Scottish A74, leaving a cyclist's paradise on the current road).
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

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wallmeerkat wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2023 11:18
Chris5156 wrote: Thu Apr 13, 2023 21:42 Where exactly is/was the illegal dump? I've looked along the likely route of the road and can't see anything problematic on aerial photos.
Mobouy Road https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/mo ... on-project

https://www.google.com/maps/@55.0047584 ... a=!3m1!1e3

With my plan of squeezing the road in that new development by the Premier Inn, they would avoid this entirely
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

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wallmeerkat wrote: Thu Apr 13, 2023 16:01Tirbracken to Crescent Link will be the North West's A8000

If the illegal dump means it can't meet the A2, this strip of land in a New Build just off Crescent link looks like it might just squeeze a narrow A2-Greenisland-style dual carraigeway through https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mobuo ... 2F1tdj__dh
My parents stayed in that Premier Inn, and my partner used to buy coal from the Costcutter. When I used to drive up there, hardly any of the newbuild houses were present, so it was a really odd development: a hotel and a convenience store with the access roads in place but hardly any other buildings.

I have no wish to steal your thunder(!), but I did wonder back then if that would be the place to plug in a future A6 bypass of Drumahoe. Considering this, I am surprised by how little space has been left between the houses where your route would go .... but I am told that Mr Taggart is a very influential character.
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Re: A6(NI) dualling to start

Post by nirs »

I have not posted here for several years (family stuff) but came on to see if there had been any comments on the A6. I have yet to drive it, but on the whole it's a fantastic project. Wesley
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