A scheme is in planning (as of June 2008) to upgrade the A6 road from Derry to Dungiven (part of the route to Belfast) to dual-carriageway. A similar scheme is in planning to dual the A5 road from Derry to the border at Aughnacloy (part of the route to Dublin). Half a ring road, in the form of the Crescent Link and Skeoge Link, runs round the north side of the city.

The missing link in all these plans is a link from the A5 to the A6 round the south of Derry. Currently this movement requires drivers to drive right into the heart of the Waterside, the part of the city on the east bank of the River Foyle. In June 2008, DRD minister Conor Murphy commented in a press release on the A6 that "a further study will commence shortly to explore potential linkages from the A6 at Drumahoe to the A5 and will take account of the potential for improved linkages to the west". This is NOT a committment to proceed with the scheme, but rather they are exploring whether or not it would be worth building. Watch this space.

The route is obviously unknown at this stage, except that it would appear to connect to the A6 at Drumahoe which is further out of the city than the current Crescent Link. The Google Earth screenshot below shows a possible start and end point with Drumahoe on the A6 on the right, and Prehen on the A5 on the left.

Updates

31 Aug 2008: A site visitor spoke to a Roads Service engineer off the record who commented that the study for this road proposal may include a third river crossing to the south of Derry and a possible link to the A2 Buncrana Road, effectively completing a city ring road. It should be stressed, of course, that this scheme is currently being explored for feasibiltiy and there is as yet NO plan to actually build it.