A22 (Isle of Man)

The A22 forms a route in the Douglas area.

Broadway, looking down to the Promenade

The route starts at the Broadway Roundel Roundabout on Douglas' Promenade, the A11, and heads inland, climbing up Broadway past brightly painted terraced houses, many of which are guest houses or hotels, facing onto parkland. The climb eases as the route crosses a signalised crossroads, with the A46 and B66. Long lines of brightly coloured Victorian Terraces continue to line the roadside as the A22 follows Ballaquayle Road past junctions with the B76, A42 and B71 to reach St Ninians Crossroads on the A2 between the school and church of the same dedication. The A22 then continues north along Ballanard Road, lined with large detached and semi detached homes.

The A6 is crossed at a mini roundabout, beyond which more modern housing sits along the road, becoming more sporadic as the edge of Douglas is reached. A sweeping double bend then leads out into the fields and on to a crossroads. Here the A22 has to TOTSO left, priority given to the minor road which heads right to meet the A6 at Cronk-ny-Mona. Ballaoates Road now drops steeply down to cross the River Glass, climbing slightly less steeply past the junction with the B21 to re-enter the urban area next to the Hospital. After crossing the A23 at Strang Crossroads, the route drops down the narrow Strang Road, often lined with parked cars despite being a bus route into the hospital. At the bottom the route ends at a T junction with the A1 at Union Mills.

History

As originally numbered in the 1920's, the current route of the A22 was given a couple of numbers. The section south of the A2 and therefore within Douglas Borough doesn't appear to have been numbered at all. North of the A2, Ballanard Road carried the B13 number, which continued across Sir George's Bridge. This then ended at a T junction on the B14 which ran down to Union Mills. The whole route had been renumbered as the A22 by 1963.