A27 (Northern Ireland)

The A27 is a medium-length A-road, mostly in County Armagh. Despite most of the route also being one of Northern Ireland's trunk routes, the T16, the A27 is not one of the highest quality NI roads.

Route

The road starts at a roundabout on the A3 in Craigavon and heads southwest through Portadown (crossing the Upper Bann in the process) to meet the A3 again at the far end of the bypass. It is obvious that this road was originally numbered A3.

The A27 Aughlish Road

The mainline of the A27 turns off at traffic lights just before the western end of the bypass and heads south. Its original route left the A3 further east, along Tandragee Road from the centre of Portadown; this is now the B78. The swap of the B78 and A27 routes in this area probably followed the opening the Northway bypass of Portadown, now the A3, in the early 1970s. Old and new roads meet, after which the A27 goes through Tandragee. Some 2.5 miles further south there is a junction with the B10 to Scarva on the left. From this point the road follows a valley and is never far from the Newry Canal (built in 1731) or the Newry-Portadown railway line for the remainder of the route through Pontzpass towards Newry.

In Newry things get complicated. After crossing the A1 bypass the A27 enters town along Tandragee Road. It crosses the A28 at a roundabout before entering the city centre along the narrow Canal Street. Because of one-way streets traffic has to turn left at traffic lights, after which the road crosses the Newry Canal and River before meeting the A28 once more. The road to the south, at one time the A1, could now be either number - but is certainly not the A25 which multiplexes at this point. The road ends at traffic lights on the A2 to the south of town.

Opening Dates

Year	Section	Notes
1995	Newry Bypass	Stage 2: Armagh Road to Camlough Road. Banbridge Leader of 12 April 1995 reported that the road had been officially opened “last week” by Malcolm Moss, Environment Minister . It included a climbing lane section. Contractor was Gibson Joint Venture of Banbridge, cost £4.4 million. Opened as A1 and became A27 in 2010.