The A2 road runs from Coleraine to Limavady, then to Londonderry via Ballykelly. It is a small village, although it is home to a large army base. The level of traffic is high (14,965 vehicles per day at nearby Greysteel in 2007) and causes disruption to the local residents and delays to drivers. In the 1960s the M23 was planned to run this way, but this was scrapped and the plan reduced to a trunk road bypassing the village in the 1970s. However, this plan was also abandoned.

The 2006 incarnation of the plan will see a 6km bypass constructed around the south side of the town. It will be built to 2+1 standard. This means that the road will be 3 lanes wide with the central lane operating as an overtaking lane for either east- or west-bound traffic. On longer roads, the overtaking lane may alternate but at 6km this road may or may not be long enough to allow this. There may also be a central crash barrier, but this has not yet been decided.

Following the announcement that the road could be built either to the north or south of Ballykelly, in May 2008, the Regional Development Minister announced in February 2009 that the southern corridor had been chosen - see map below. Work is now underway to select possible routes within this corridor. There had been suggestions that a northern route could use some of the military land at Shackleton Barracks to reduce costs, but in practice the amount of such land in the northern corridor is actually quite small (no more than 15% of the route).

Preferred route corridor as of February 2009. [Map from Roads Service PDF]

Background

The draft Northern Area Plan 2016, which was published in 2005, says "the proposed Ballykelly by-pass will, when constructed, provide a 7 kilometre single carriageway road taking the bulk of through traffic away from the village, thereby considerably improving environmental conditions". However it was not included in the Regional Strategic Transport Network Transport Plan 2015 (published in 2004) which shapes the road building policy for the province up to 2015, due to lack of money. This meant that it would not be constructed before 2015.

However on 31 July 2006, the Department for Regional Development published a consultation document "Expanding the Strategic Road Improvement Programme" which envisaged an additional £400m over and above the £1bn already earmarked for this period. The go-ahead was given two years later in April 2008 with construction timetabled for the period 2013-2018. The government also tentatively suggested that a Greysteel Bypass (joining the west of the Ballykelly Bypass) may be on the cards after 2015.

Progress

21 August 2009: It has been pointed out at that the leaflet released by the DRD last April indicated that the design of the scheme has now been upgraded from 2+1 standard to dual-carriageway standard. This is in keeping with Roads Service's general aspiration to upgrade all the major road corridors in Northern Ireland to dual-carriageway standard. Nevertheless, it still seems unlikely that this scheme will get underway for almost ten years (at the earliest).

7 July 2009: At a meeting with Limavady Borough Council about three weeks ago, Roads Service said that the preferred route for the Ballykelly Bypass is due to be published "by early 2010".

12 April 2009: Roads Service held a public consultation on the scheme on 7 and 8 April, presumably seeking comments on February's preferred route. Unfortunately this information was only published on the DRD web site during the first day of the consultation, so there was no time to publicise it here.

12 Feb 2009: Yesterday, the Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy announced that the southern corridor had been chosen for the road. According to the web site "Roads Service will now progress the development of a preferred route within the southern corridor. It is intended to present route options at a further public exhibition in spring 2009." Note, however, that construction of this road is still seven or eight years away at the earliest, and possibly later.

22 Sep 2008: According to the Regional Development Minister, the process to develop a preferred route corridor is in progress and that the process should be completed "by the end of the year". While the project is currently timetabled for the period 2013-2018, the minister has cautioned that it is likely to be "towards the end" of this period, ie closer to the 2018 date.

23 May 2008: The public consultation two weeks ago revealed the broad area within which the route will eventually lie. The Google Earth map shown above is based on the map that was on display at th event. No date for an announcement of the final route has been set, and construction is still up to ten years away.

5 May 2008: The document "Investment Delivery Plan for Roads" released in April 2008 has granted approval to progress this plan (which hitherto had just been a proposal) through the legal and design stages. Construction is due in the period 2013 to 2018 (ie within 5 to 10 years). Public consultation events will be held in the Drummond Hotel in Ballykelly between 3pm and 9pm on Wed 7 May 2008, and between 10am and 9pm on Thu 8 May 2008. All those with an interest in the scheme should be encouraged to attend as this is one of the few opportunities to have your opinions heard.

3 Mar 2008: According to one of these written answers, a commission to develop a "Preferred Option Scheme Assessment" was appointed in December 2007. This basically comes up with the various options that are available. This will lead to a public information day in April or May 2008 when the public will be able to give their views.