This scheme is part of the wider strategy of improving the strategic road network in Northern Ireland. As the main route connecting Londonderry and Coleraine, it also feeds large industrial sites at Maydown and Campsey as well the growing City of Derry airport. The section closest to the city carries 17,000 vehicles per day, while the section to the airport carries 12,000.

It has been decided to upgrade the route to dual-carriageway standard. Seven options were initally considered, whittled down to two: - a fully on-line upgrade (same route upgraded) and a partially off-line upgrade (part of the route completely new). In November 2005 the latter option was announced as the preferred scheme after a public consultation. More detailed maps of the route were published late in 2006 and come in three parts (PDF format):

Maydown to Campsey  | Campsey to Broadbridge | Broadbridge to City of Derry Airport

From Maydown to Campsey, a new westbound carriageway will be constructed to the south of the existing road, with the existing road used as the eastbound carriageway. East of Campsey, the road will be constructed entirely offline with roundabouts at Campsey, Broadbridge and the City of Derry airport. The existing A2 east of Campsey will be retained as a local road to access properties.

All along the new route there will be *no* central-reserve crossing points, one of the main causes of accidents on dual-carriageway. Instead, a series of parallel roads will be constructed to access homes and farmland. Where side roads do join the new road, they will do so with LILO (left-in, left-out) access only. Traffic wishing to turn right will turn left and do a u-turn at the next roundabout.

The cost of £19.8m given in 2005 had risen to £25m by the time this public consultation was released in July 2006. This cost had almost doubled to £46m by August 2008. However, when construction began in June 2009 the cost was being given as £24m. No explanation can be found for the huge discrepancies between these various statements.

Progress

2 March 2010: There has been excellent progress since the last set of images in the autumn. The pictures below were all taken a few days ago by Robin Cunningham (need help with VAT?) from a light aircraft. The first shot shows the existing Maydown roundabout at the western end of the scheme, seen looking east. The existing dual-carriageway can be seen at the bottom of the shot, while the existing single-carriageway A2 is still in place beyond the roundabout. However, it is clear from the picture that the new dual-carriageway is being constructed around it. In the top right corner you can see a second bridge being built over the Faughan river, which will form a pair with the existing bridge. To the right of the new road you can see a new parallel access road, which joins the roundabout. The second shot shows the new Campsey roundabout taking shape, here seen looking west. This is a new roundabout, and it is well underway although the existing A2 clearly still runs unhindered through the middle. The clearly visible C-shaped road beyond the roundabout is a new road that will provide access to existing properties in the settlement of Campsey, visible here on the right. The final shot shows the new Broadbridge roundabout taking shape, here seen looking south east with Campsey Industrial Estate visible in the foreground. At this point the new dual-carriageway is being built offline, ie away from the existing A2, which can be seen in the foreground. The new roundabout looks to have kerbing in place, but no surface as yet. The road at the upper right is a new road that will replace the one at the top left which will be stopped up. Many thanks to Robin for these excellent images. Completion is still anticipated to be in November, around eight months away.

Pic 1: The view east from Maydown roundabout on 27 Feb 2010. [Robin Cunningham]

Pic 2: New Campsey roundabout taking shape, looking west on 27 Feb 2010. [Robin Cunningham]

Pic 3: Looking south east over the current A2 towards the new dual-carriageway and new Broadbridge roundabout on 27 Feb 2010. [Robin Cunningham]

7 January 2010: According to this press release, the scheme is progressing well and is still on schedule for completion in November. The information also says that "Ten archaeological sites were uncovered during the earthworks for the scheme. Site work is now complete on these finds and a report is being compiled by the archaeologists for the Environment Agency."

8 Sep 2009: Work has now been underway for three months. Those travelling along the existing A2 can see plenty of evidence of widening works. The picture below was taken about a week ago and shows the view looking towards Derry at the western end of the scheme (approaching Maydown roundabout). At this point the single-carriageway road is being widened to dual-carriageway. A parallel agricultural access road is also being built on the left. So the works evident here are either the new citybound carriageway or the parallel access road. The new road largely follows the existing road, but it weaves from left to right to achieve the optimum curve geometry so it's not simply a matter of constructing a second carriageway beside the current one.

The view west from the A2 approaching Maydown roundabout with
work evident on the left. Taken on 3 Sep 2009. [Diarmaid Elder]

6 July 2009: Although work has been underway now for almost a month, the Minister for Regional Development cut the first sod on Wednesday, 1st July - obviously more of photo opportunity than a literal commencement! He said "This project has considerable local support and I am pleased to see the work started. The improvements will greatly improve journey times for both strategic traffic and other road users in the local community and will, in turn, contribute towards the continued economic development of the north and efforts to improve road safety." He also implied that he currently favours schemes in the North West over schemes elsewhere by saying "Since taking up office I have been committed to tackling the years of under investment in the north west and to the delivery of balanced regional infrastructure throughout all of the north."

23 June 2009: According to site visitor Paul McCloskey, work is now underway, and indeed began around 8 June. Signs of the construction of the new carriageway are already visible at the eastern (airport) end of the scheme.

14 May 2009: The Minister for Regional Development has officially announced the awarding of the contract, which he says will begin "later this month", ie within two weeks, and will last 18 months. This means the road should be complete by the end of November 2010. He also gives the cost as £24m, which is considerably less than the cost of £40m given last August - it is not clear wht this is although there was been quite a bit of talk in Roads Service meetings about the "funding profile" of this scheme in recent months. The Minister also says that Derry's redevelopment body ILEX is contributing £4.5m to the project, money which has been sourced from the Executive's Integrated Development Fund. The Minister describes the project as "a further example of my commitment to improving infrastructure in Derry and the northwest, in line with the Executive’s priorities, to allow this region to maximise and realise its full economic potential."

28 April 2009: The contract for the scheme was formally signed with Lagan Construction Ltd on Friday, 24 April. We can therefore expect work to begin imminently, although site clearance work has been underway since February.

26 Feb 2009: According to site visitor Stephen Baxter, advanced site clearance works have begun, mainly clearance of vegetation from the verges. Last week Roads Service published the vesting orders that are required to acquire the land for the scheme.

2 Feb 2009: According to this Assembly written answer, the scheme is due to get underway in April or May 2009, and that work will last 18 months, which suggests completion in October or November 2010. The answer also confirms that the standard of the proposed road is still a good standard dual-carriageway with roundabouts and no central reservation crossings. Tenders from contractors are due to be returned by the middle of February 2009.

10 Dec 2008: According to this press release, tenders have been invited but the start of work on the ground has been put back from "early 2009" to "the next financial year", which likely means April 2009 or beyond. (The Roads Service web site is still giving the commencement date as "late 2008" but this is clearly old information.) Also, Roads Service published a leaflet on the scheme last month. It doesn't say anything new, but provides a useful summary of the scheme.

26 Aug 2008: Having considered the findings of the public inquiry, Roads Service have now decided to proceed with slight modifications to the design (a left-in/left-out junction at Donnybrewer Road, a realignment of the Cloghole Road Link and other minor land take amendments). This will require some additional land vesting. The latest press release gives the cost as £46m, representing an increase of at least £16m on the previously publicised figure. The press release also states that the commencement date has slipped, from "late 2008" to "early 2009".

15 Jun 2008: Speaking to a Roads Service person recently, there seems to be question mark over the standard of the scheme. The scheme as publicised in 2006 (see "Maps" below) contained parallel access roads for long lengths to access farmland. However, there seem to be legal problems with these parallel access roads. Roads Service does not want to be responsible for maintaining roads that only access a handful of private properties, but the residents naturally don't want to be responsible either. If these problems cannot be rectified, they may abandon the parallel access roads and reduce the quality of the scheme by allowing private accesses directly onto the road. Also, this press release suggests that completion will be "substantially completed by 2010/11". This is later than the "late 2010" date being advertised as of Feb 2007 which was dependant on construction beginning in "late 2008". This suggests that work may not now begin until 2009.

15 Feb 2007: According to the Roads Service web site, construction commencement has been pushed back from "early 2008" to "late 2008", possibly due to the need for a public inquiry.

Maps

Detailed maps of the route were published late in 2006 and come in three parts:

Maydown to Campsey  | Campsey to Broadbridge | Broadbridge to City of Derry Airport