|
|
Status
|
Construction scheme
(future) |
|
Where
|
Replacement
of Station Street Flyover on Queens Quay,
Belfast, with a 2-lane single-carriageway
road at ground level. |
|
Total
Length
|
0.15km / 0.1 miles |
|
Dates
|
Tenders invited early
2006
Planning permission
granted 22 June 2006 but no work carried
out
Removal of flyover
again proposed 13 Dec 2011
|
|
Cost
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"over £1m" |
|
Photos
|
See below. |
|
See
Also
|
General
area map
Laganside
Corporation
Queen's
Quay Master Plan of Dec 2011
|
This scheme is being
taken forward by Roads Service but with
significant input from the Laganside Corporation
who have been tasked with redeveloping this area
of the city since 1989. It will involve the
demolition of Station Street Flyover and the
replacement of Queen's Quay / Station Street (the
entrance to the Odyssey area) with a 2-lane
single-carriageway road at street level.
The map above
illustrates the current situation. The flyover was
built back when Queen's Quay was the entrance to
the shipyards and tens of thousands of people
worked there. This was also before the M3 was
built (1995). So at that time the Queen's Bridge
was the only way to get to the city centre from
the shipyards. To avoid traffic having to go 1km
round the Middlepath St / Bridge End one-way
system the flyover was built to get traffic onto
Queen's Bridge directly.
Today the flyover is unnecessary
because, even after the proposed development of
Titanic Quarter there is nothing like the same
level of traffic. This is because most traffic now
uses the M3 to cross the Lagan and this is
accessed by turning left onto Middlepath Street
rather than right across the Queen's Bridge. As it
is widely regarded as an eyesore (see photos
below), Laganside have decided to demolish it and
create a 3-lane dual-carriageway with traffic
lights instead. It is unclear whether traffic
still wishing to use the former route of the
flyover will be able to cross Middlepath Street at
the lights or if they will have to go round the
one-way system.
This is the kind of scheme that is
regarded as minor, so will probably just begin
without any fanfare. Planning permission was
granted in June 2006, so work could begin any
time.
Updates
18 Dec 2011: Last week the
Department for Social Development unveiled
its anticipated master plan for Queen's
Quay (see previous update). Not surprisingly,
this strategy once again proposes the
demolition of Station Street flyover. If you
click on the above link and download Part 3 of
the document, you can see that the proposal is
now to replace it with a street-level single-carriageway
road with two
lanes each way (the previous proposal in 2006
had been for a dual-carriageway at
street-level with three lanes each way).
Station Street Flyover was built before the
M3, when this was a heavily used route, but as
it is rather over-engineered for today's needs
its removal is unlikely to cause much of a
problem, and would certainly help the
regeneration of the area. There is still no
firm date to actually proceed.
27 April 2011: It
has now been almost five years since planning
permission was granted for the demolition of
Station Street Flyover and its replacement with a
ground-level dual carriageway. However nothing has
happened, and planning permission must surely be
about to expire. However there may be going to be
some new decisions soon - the Department of Social
Development has just begun work on a master
plan for the redevelopment of Queen's Quay.
This process must surely involve a decision on the
future of this rather ugly flyover.
Photos

Station
Street Flyover seen from the end of Queen
Elizabeth Bridge. [Photo by Wesley Johnston]

Looking south along Station Street
Flyover from its northern end. Station Street
itself is on the left of the flyover with Queen's
Quay invisible to its right. The new section of
dual-carriageway will run along here. [Photo by
Wesley Johnston]
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