B34 (Northern Ireland)
| B34 | ||||||||||||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||||||||||||||
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| From: | Ballygawley (H627570) | |||||||||||||||
| To: | Tamnamore (H871613) | |||||||||||||||
| Via: | Dungannon | |||||||||||||||
| Distance: | 18.2 miles (29.3 km) | |||||||||||||||
| Meets: | A5, A4, A4, A29, B517, B106, B196, A45, M1 | |||||||||||||||
| Former Number(s): | A4 | |||||||||||||||
| Old route now: | A29 | |||||||||||||||
| Primary Destinations | ||||||||||||||||
| Highway Authorities | ||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||||||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||||||||||||||
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Route
The B34 is a complicated B-road in south Tyrone.
The road starts on a roundabout on the A5 on the southern edge of Ballygawley and heads east across the fields, parallel to the A4. After going through Ballyreagh the B34 reaches Cabragh, where it goes under the A4 at a simple GSJ. A short distance further on the B34 now goes over the A4. There is only one slip road here, providing access to the B34 from the eastbound A4.
Over a mile further on, the A4 is met again but this time a multiplex is formed. Eastbound B34 traffic runs straight onto the eastbound A4 whereas heading west traffic has to turn off and then turn left at the next T-junction.
The next time the B34 number appears is at traffic lights on the A29 Circular Road in Dungannon town centre. How it got here is left to the reader. The road heads southeast along Killyman Road and reaches open country before getting to a T-junction. To the right is the B517 (which is a better road to use if heading to the western section of the B34), whilst we TOTSO left to continue on the B34.
The road now heads east along the interestingly named Far Circular Road. After running close to the M1 for a short distance it bends to the right to go under the motorway before running parallel. The B106 is crossed at a mini-roundabout and the B34 continues east along Tamnamore Road.
Soon after meeting another branch of the B106 the B34 TOTSOs left; the road ahead is the B196. The B34 ends shortly afterwards at a roundabout at M1 J14, where it also meets the A45.
History
As may be expected from the convoluted route given above, the B34 has been cobbled together from other roads.
The original 1923 route of the B34 started on the A29 to the south of Cookstown and headed south along the direct route to Dungannon, where it met the A29 again. The road then headed southeastwards along its present route to end on the A4 to the east of town.
By the 1970s it was decided that the original route of the A29 via Stewartstown was unsuitable and so that road was rerouted along the majority of the original B34, leaving only the section east of Dungannon. However, round the same time the construction of the M1 downgraded the A4 and so the B34 was extended along the old line of that road as far as Tamnamore.
Much later, in the 2000s, the A4 west of Dungannon was also downgraded, this time because the road itself had been bypassed. The B34 was also allocated to this section of ex-A4, which has given rise to a gap in the middle of the road.
