Enniskillen remains a bottleneck for long distance traffic on the Belfast <> Sligo route because all traffic must use the A4 Enniskillen Throughpass which was opened in 1986. While a big improvement over going through the town centre, this still involves going close to the heart of the busy town where strategic traffic has to mingle with local traffic and this delays both groups of users.

This scheme would see the main A4 route diverted to the south of the town. The road, as currently proposed, would be built to 2+1 standard (ie one lane each way plus an alternating overtaking lane) and extend from the A4 Dublin Road at the eastern side of the town, crossing the A509 Derrylin Road and terminating on the A4 Sligo Road at the western side of the town. The road will have to cross the Erne, and the bridge will be a significant structure.

In 2005, Fermanagh District Council issued a report making a number of claims about this road:

• "Up to 444 commercial cross-border journeys pass through Enniskillen on the average week day on their way to or from the ports of Belfast and Larne."
• "Time savings [of] 230,000-300,000 hours a year if a southern bypass was built."
• "Economic growth worth up to £2.5m a year could be prompted."

(source Belfast Telegraph, 1 April 2005)

The traffic benefits of the project are obvious. What may cause more concern is the fact that the road will run through the environmentally sensitive Erne area, close to and over some very attractive areas of shoreland.

Route Options

Roads Service released a leaflet in October 2008 which includes a map showing an "indicative line" for the new road. It's unclear whether this is the route that is actually being proposed, or if it is an early concept map. Either way, the route is shown on the map below. it would begin near the Killyhevlin Hotel on the A4 Dublin Road, immediately cross the Erne and then follow the southern shore of the Erne as far as the A509 Derrylin Road, where there would likely be a roundabout. The map then shows a futher stretch of road linking to the A4 Sligo Road outside the town. This final stretch may prove unnecessary, since the existing A509 may prove to be a sufficient route to rejoin the A4. However, Roads Service may which to choose an entirely new route in order to create a higher standard of carriageway and bypass all the urban area. It would seem likely that the existing road through the town centre would lose the "A4" label, and that this number would be reassigned to the Southern Bypass.

Map of the proposed route of the Enniskillen Southern Bypass as of October 2008.

(Map not exactly to scale; based on Google Earth imagery)

Updates

12 Aug 2011: The previous update linked to the State 1 Assessment Report which I didn't have time to comment on in late July. It reveals that the planners considered two routes. The one shown on the map above is the originally indicated "inner" route, and it was joined by a second "outer" route further out from the town (south of the Killyhevlin Hotel). In each case there was a "short" version of the route that went from the A4 Dublin Road to the A509, and a "long" version that continued to the A4 Sligo Road. The "outer" route performed poorly in the benefits-cost analysis (ratio of 0.38 for the long option, and 0.82 for the short). As both of these are below 1, it implies that that option would bring fewer benefits than it would cost, mainly because its distance from the town at the eastern end would discourage local traffic from using it. The "inner" route, which begins north of the Kilylhevlin Hotel, performed much better (ratio of 1.43 for the long option, and 2.26 for the short). The planners therefore recommended that only the "inner" route be considered at the next stage of the analysis. Even this option has a couple of possible locations for the major bridge that would be required over the Erne. The document does note that one of these two locations was previously home to a railway bridge (since mostly demolished) and that the new bridge could be built in a similar style as a nod to the past history of the area. The decision as to whether to go with the "short" or the "long" version of the route is still undecided. The A509 currently connects to the A4 Sligo Road via a roundabout, so it would not strike me as a major problem if the Southern Bypass were to stop on the A509 rather than continuing on to the A4. The only disadvantage would be one extra roundabout to navigate, and a significant increase in traffic on the short shared stretch of the A509.

27 July 2011: The preferred route corridor was announced today. I won't be updating the site for the next fortnight and as I don't have enough time tonight to give a proper analysis of the announcement, I recommend you look at the documents here, particularly the Executive Summary. The preferred route is broadly in agreement with the green line on the map above. I will give a more comprehensive update in August. According to the press release a public display of the preferred route to be held "in the Town Hall, the public library and the Roads Service Section Office at Castle Barracks in Enniskillen from Wednesday 27 July up to Wednesday 31 August 2011".

4 Jul 2011: As far as I am aware, the public consultation anticipated for last Autumn did not take place. Instead, the Minister has now said that a public exhibition of the preferred route for the Southern Bypass will take place in Enniskillen "in July 2011", although no actual date, time or venue is given. These exhibitions are often held with only a few days' notice online, so I will keep an eye out for any announcements. The Minister cautions that there is currently no money to actually build this road, so for now it will remain a future plan.

22 November 2009: According to this press release, Roads Service are planning to hold a public consultation event in "Autumn 2010" to reveal the general route corridor (note: not the actual route) that is being proposed for the Southern Bypass. Meanwhile, the Impartial Reporter has published an article reporting that Roads Service are exploring the possibility of introducing a one-way system in the town to ease traffic in the interim, while the Southern Bypass is being planned. (With thanks to Gary Potter).

7 June 2009: At a meeting with Fermanagh District Council two weeks ago, Roads Service confirmed that they have now appointed consultants to commence route selection work. Construction is still unlikely to commence before 2013, and perhaps not until 2018.

24 Nov 2008: Roads Service released a leaflet in October 2008 which includes a map that provides the first indications of the route that is being considered (see above). It does not give any other information on the scheme, other than to confirm that construction is anticpated between 2013 and 2018.

Photos

The existing A4 Dublin Road, seen looking south, from opposite the Killyhevlin Hotel in March 2007. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. See this photograph's page on the Geograph website for the photographer's contact details. The copyright on this image is owned by Kenneth Allen and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

The existing A4 Enniskillen Throughpass (here caught early on a Sunday morning in 2002) carries the A4 parallel to the town centre but this route is increasingly congested at peak times. [Photo by Wesley Johnston]

The Erne as seen from the Kilyhevlin Hotel, Enniskillen in 2008. The new road will have to cross the Erne very close to here, probably to the right of this shot. [Wesley Johnston]