The A32 is the principle route between Omagh and Enniskillen and passes through the towns of Dromore and Irvinestown. Now that there is a plan to replace the acute functions of Omagh's Tyrone County Hospital and Enniskillen's Erne Hospital with a new hospital to the north of Enniskillen, the government has planned a series of six improvement schemes for the A32. These take the form of realignments in some places, and 2+1 overtaking opportunities at others. The work is taking place over a period of years. As of December 2010 only one scheme is completed.

The upgrades consist of the following (colours indicate progress):

The map below shows the location of all but the first of these schemes (Sidaire is now cancelled).

Photos

These are all links to Google Streetview.

• View southbound on the A32 at Mullaghbane showing the work actually underway
• View southbound on the A32 at Shannaragh
• View westbound on the A32 at Drumskinny
• View westbound approaching the bad bend at Cornamuck which will be removed
• View westbound approaching the bends at New Park which will be removed
• View southbound on the A32 at Kilgortnaleague

Updates

21 Sep 2011: The contract to carry out the Drumskinny scheme was awarded to Fox Building & Engineering Ltd on 31st August, and a press release was issued today confirming that work is commencing. The same press release confirmed that the total cost of the Drumskinny scheme is now £1.8m, of which the construction contract represents £1m. The scheme will see almost 1 km of the A32 realigned and straightened to improve road safety. The completion date is given as "March 2012", ie around 6 months' duration.

4 Jul 2011: The Minister has given another update on this scheme via a Written Answer in the Assembly. Drumskinny is now due to get underway in September this year, while Shannaragh is unchanged with commencement still due in December. Cornamuck is still a "priority" but the implication is that there is not currently enough money to built it.

5 Jun 2011: The Drumskinny scheme is currently out to tender with a closing date of 16th June, while the Shannaragh scheme was out to tender during May. In a press release, Roads Service confirm that work on Shannaragh is due to begin in December this year with completion "in 2012", while Drumskinny will be completed "before the end of the current financial year", which presumably means by April 2012. The tender document states that the work will begin in "late August". Last month a serious road accident occured at Shannaragh, at one of the bad bends due to be removed by the scheme there. While we do not know whether the road alignment was a factor in this accident, it does nevertheless highlight the value of upgrading the A32.

25 Apr 2011: Due to the deteriorating financial climate, there is uncertainty over when the five remaining elements of this scheme will be constructed. In a Question for Written Answer last month, the Minister said draft orders for the Shannaragh scheme (the most imminent one) have now been published. He also said that the "preferred option" for Cornamuck (ie the design Roads Service would like to build) will be published "later this year". However, the Minister could not give any firm committment to progress with any of the schemes within a specific timeframe. The design documents for Shannaragh are on the DRD web site, but they don't seem to be listed anywhere. You can find them by going to this page and typing "Shannaragh" into the search box. Meanwhile, the tender for construction of the Shannaragh scheme was advertised on 12th April and will close on 25th May. This is earlier than expected, based on the information we had in December (see below). The Roads Service web site is also saying that the Drumskinny scheme may go to tender in May 2011.

7 Mar 2011: Roads Service have provided some more information on the progress on these schemes via a Question for Written Answer. It confirms what we already knew about the progress and gives new cost estimates - Shannaragh is now £7m (down from £8m in December), Cornamuck is £5.1m, and Drumskinny/Esker Bog is £1.4m. This press release issued on Friday suggests that some new money has been made available which may help some or all of these schemes to progress.

30 Dec 2010: Some clarity at last on the various schemes (see previous update) has come by scouring council reports from earlier in the year. Part of what I have found is a more up-to-date map by Roads Service showing the various schemes. I have included this map above. An update on each scheme is given below based on the Fermanagh and Omagh council reports from Spring 2010 as well as this more recent press release on the subject. On the basis of this new information I have re-written the text above to reflect the current position.

• The Mullaghbane scheme no longer appears in Roads Service documents, presumably because it was completed in 2009. See here for contract details.
• On the Shannaragh scheme, the legal orders and environmental statement are due to be published "in the coming weeks". The contract is scheduled to be awarded "late in the 2011/12 financial year", ie early 2012. This scheme alone is estimated to cost almost £8m.
• It seems that the Drumskinny scheme is actually an extension of the Esker Bog scheme, so they are being treated as a single scheme. Advanced site works took place early in 2010 with the main contract due to be released in March 2011, according to the Roads Service web site.
• There is no new information on the Cornamuck or New Park schemes.
• The Sidaire scheme which was to have been between Enniskillen and Irvinestown has now been cancelled "due to escalating costs associated primarily with very poor ground conditions and the necessity to acquire adjoining land and property".
• Design work is underway on the Kilgortnaleague scheme.

5 June 2010: According to this press release, work on the Shannaragh scheme is now expected to commence "in 2012", which is a year later than anticipated in November. Bizzarely, the press release also says that the Mullaghbane scheme "is nearing completion" despite the fact that a press release issued over a year ago claims the same thing! Strange time warps on the A32... So far only one of these eight associated schemes has been carried out. This press release notes that design work is being carried out on the Kilgortnaleague scheme at the Enniskillen end. The Sidaire scheme is still on the Roads Service "future tenders" list (release date Dec 2010), but the Esker Bog scheme has inexplicably now disappeared from the list. However, a new scheme called "Drumskinny" has now appeared (with a release planned for Sep 2010). This may be the same thing, or it may be a nearby scheme previously referred to as Cornamuck. Who knows? It is not helpful to the public if Roads Service are changing the names of schemes half way through the planning process!

23 January 2010: The Esker Bog and Sidaire schemes have appeared on Roads Service's "future tenders" list. The tender for the Esker Bog scheme is due to be released in August 2010, while the Sidaire one is due to be released in December 2010.

22 November 2009: This press release from last week outlines the current position on this scheme. The Esker Bog scheme will apparently commence "this financial year" subject to land acquision. This presumably means by April 2010. The Sidaire and Shannaragh schemes are expected to commence in "early 2011" subject to land acquisition and available funding. There are no updates on the remaining four schemes.

7 June 2009: According to this press release from about 3 weeks ago, the scheme at Mullaghbane was nearly completed while the scheme at Sidaire may proceed "later this year if land acquisition is successful". A public exhibition on the Shannaragh scheme took place on 28 May 2009. The current position, therefore, is that of the 8 schemes planned for the A32, one is completed with seven still to proceed.

11 Apr 2009: According to latest information, the scheme at Mullaghbane is actually underway now, with completion due in May 2009. Work apparently began there in late January and involves both carraigeway widening and realignment over a distance of 0.7km. The contractor is James Balfour & Sons Ltd. The same information states that the scheme at Sidaire is due to get underway next, likely by April 2010 (subject to acquisition of land) at a cost of around £800,000. Information on the Roads Service web site, meanwhile, suggests that the tender for the Esker Bog scheme will be released in Spring 2010. This suggests construction *might* happen in 2011. The remaining schemes are described as "a rolling programme" which we believe are to be completed by 2015.

2 Mar 2009: The Regional Development Minister answered a question in Stormont on the timescale of these improvements. In his reply, the Minister confirmed that the schemes would proceed separately, with only two of them (at Esker Bog and Sidare) being planned to open before the new hospital in Enniskillen opens (currently planned for 2012). The reply also mentions four of the other schemes which he says will open after the hospital. The reply makes no mention of the schemes at Drumbulcan and Mullaghbane. It thus seems as if these improvements will be provided over a period of several years, rather than all at once in a single contract. The reply also confirms that the DRD is contributing £10m, and the Department of Health £5m "to facilitate blue light services on this stretch of road".

2 Feb 2009: Over the past few months this scheme (or series of schemes) has been moved into the preparation pool, meaning that construction is anticipated within the next five years. In November 2008 a leaflet was issued about these proposals, the wording of which suggests that the various elements will be implemented separately, and that some will involve building short stretches of road offline. The leaflet gives the rationale for the project as being to "reduce journey times, provide a safer route and improve journeys for Accident & Emergency services".