Enniskillen is a busy town because it is the crossing point of a number of main routes, most notably the A4 Belfast to Sligo route but also the A32 route north to Irvinestown. As the town lacks any bypasses (other than the Enniskillen Throughpass running parallel to the town centre) strategic traffic has to mingle with local traffic in the town. This scheme will allow traffic to move between the A4 east of the town and the A32 to the north without having to go close to the town centre. It consists of a 1.1km link road connecting the A32 to the B80 Tempo Road. Traffic will then use the existing B80 to reach the A4 road. (This part of the B80 is likely to be re-numbered as A32.) This map (not to scale) illustrates the proposals and shows the locations of the three new roundabouts that form part of the plan as well as the existing roundabout on the A32:

(Map based on Google Earth imagery.)

The road will be build to 2 lane single carriageway standard (one lane each way) and will very likely include at least one footway and cycleway. Roads Service estimated in this press release that the new road will attract around 9,000 vehicles per day.

The Cherrymount Link scheme was included in the 2003 Regional Strategic Transport Network Plan which outlined the schemes that were to proceed within "the next ten years or so", which is taken to mean some time before 2015. Construction was to have begun in 2007-08, according to this parliamentary written answer from March 2006. However Roads Service now seem to have pushed back construction. According to this press release in October 2007, advanced site works are due to take place in 2008. If there is no public inquiry, work proper will begin in the 2008-09 financial year. A public inquiry, which is quite possible, would delay this by about a year.

The scheme as currently proposed (Nov 2007) follows a slightly different route than originally proposed. This new route, which runs a few hundred metres further east in the central stretch, "made use of better ground conditions and took advantage of anticipated reduced land purchase costs".

There is considerable anger in Fermanagh that of all road schemes proposed in the original RSTN, only 0.5% (ie this single scheme) are in Fermanagh. This editorial in a local newspaper in September 2003 demonstrates this depth of feeling. However in 2006 a further proposal was put forward to build a southern bypass to connect the A4 at each side of the town. Construction is anticipated by 2015. See the link above for more details.

Progress

Update on 27 Jun 2008: As suspected, this Legal Order has been passed which will make the Cherrymount Link part of the A32. The part of the B80 Tempo Road that runs from the planned Cherrymount Link to the A4 Dublin Road will also be part of the A32. What will happen to the existing stretch of the A32 Irvinestown Road that will be bypassed by the Cherrymount Link is unclear, but it will likely be downgraded to a B-road once the new road is opened.

Update on 28 Apr 2008: According to the Investment Delivery Strategy for Roads of April 2008, the scheme is set to commence in "2008/09" with completion due in "2009/10".

Update on 4 Nov 2007: A public display of the selected route will take place in Erne Integrated College on 5th November. The timescale for commencement of construction is now slightly more specific with work due to begin in either the 2008/09 or 2009/10 financial years depending on how quickly the statutory processes are concluded.

Update on 14 Feb 2007: At a meeting between Fermanagh Council and the Roads Service on 6 December 2006, it was revealed that construction has been pushed well back from the April 2007-April 2008 slot claimed by Roads Service in 2006. They are now anticipating construction in the period 2010-2011. Also, they have revised the cost up from £3.8m to £8m which has been attributed to extending the scheme, undertaking widening work and increases in land value. The council has expressed its disapproval at the timescale of the whole project from planning to completion, currently said to be 2007-2011.

Update on 15 Nov 2006: According to this Parliamentary written answer, dating from March 2006, work is anticipated to begin in the 2007/08 financial year, which means between April 2007 and April 2008.