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A5 Dualling Londonderry to Aughnacloy ("Western Transport Corridor" or A5WTC) |
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Click here to jump straight down
to updates for this scheme NOTE:
In light of the way this scheme is now
being broken into phases, I am turning this page
into a general page about the overall plan for
the A5, and producing separate pages for each
phase. Hence you can visit:
The Plan This ambitious road
scheme, which was originally to be progressed
thanks partly to £400m of the necessary funds
being made available by the Republic of Ireland,
would have been the single largest road scheme
ever undertaken in Northern Ireland. The original
plan, as of 2007, was to convert the entire 55
mile A5 to a high-quality dual-carriageway. The A5
is the main north-south route in the west of the
province connecting the A4/M1 route which runs
across the south of the province to the A6 route
which runs across the north. It serves the
principal towns of Omagh and Strabane along the
way, as well as terminating in Londonderry city.
From an all-Ireland perspective the A5 is an
extension of the Irish N2 road, the main route
from Dublin to Derry and Donegal. The map below
shows the existing A5. In November 2011 Dublin
announced that its contribution would be delayed.
Hence in February 2012 it was decided to break the
project up and build it in phases. See links
above.
The standard of the proposed road is very high (technical term is "Category 6"). It will consist of two 7.3 metre carriageways with 1 metre hard strips on either side and a 2.5 metre crash barrier, as shown below. The central reservation will be continuous, ie there will be no right-turns. This means that all junctions will be either grade separated, be limited to left-in/left-out movements only, or be at-grade roundabouts.
Image clipped from a PDF on the A5WTC site at this location. Route The most detailed route maps are downloadable from the A5WTC site, under "Brochures" and as of November 2010 show what is very likely to be the finalised route. Junctions on the new road are a mixture of full-scale grade-separated junctions (like proper motorway junctions), compact grade-separated junctions (such as have been built recently on the A1) and ordinary roundabouts. The strip map below shows the various junctions proposed. The numbers are as given in document released in November 2010, but are probably for reference only. Interestingly, the proposed road will set a new record for the longest stretch of dual-carriageway/motorway with no junctions in Northern Ireland: the 14.6 km/9.1 mile stretch between Seskinore and Ballygawley.
Cross Border Funding The Republic of Ireland agreed to part-fund the scheme as part of the St Andrews Agreement of 2006. The offer of funding from the Republic of Ireland was accepted by the Northern Ireland Executive at a plenary session of the North-South Ministerial Council on 17 July 2007. This committment has remained, even after the major funding cutbacks announced by Dublin in November 2010 - see the update below on 25 November 2010 for more information. Due to its size, and its cross-border nature, the project is being managed by a three-tier structure which is (starting with the most senior) (a) Cross Border Steering Group (b) Technical Group and (c) Project Team. 28 Apr 2013: The DRD Minister has now met
representatives of the farmers affected by
the A5 project and has also met
representatives of Londonderry Chamber of
Commerce. In the former case, the farmers
wanted to know whether the A5 would still go ahead
or be abandoned, a question the DRD Minister is
unable to answer at this time as the decision has
not been made, and will not be at least until the
Appropriate Assessment under the Habitats
Directive is completed. In the latter case, the
Chamber pressed for the need for improved roads in
the West. Additionally, the DRD has now confirmed
a few more noteworthy facts. First the
project will be delayed by a minimum of one year (source).
Second, that the A5 project has thus far
cost £60m, of which the majority - £47m - was
design. Third, that the Vesting Order does
seem to have also been quashed, since the DRD has
confirmed that all vested land has now reverted
back to their former landowners (source),
who are presumably now free to do what they want
with the fencing etc erected by the DRD during the
time they owned it. Fourth, that a small
number of landowners have already been paid for
their land, to the tune of £795,566. This money
will presumably have to be repaid, but this is
made tricky by the fact that some of the
landowners have apparently already spent it. The
DRD has vowed to treat each landowner on an
individual basis, and has set out a number of
compensation arrangements for those who has land
has been affected. They will also compensate
farmers who were unable to use their fields during
this time, and for fences/hedges etc already
removed. Uncertainly remains, however, since the
project could yet go ahead meaning all this land
could well be re-vested in a year or two. Finally,
Finance Minister Sammy Wilson is clearly unhappy
with the action taken by the Alternative A5
Alliance which he described as an abuse of law. He
said "I am unhappy about this decision. This
is happening time and time again now. People are
objecting and are taking issues to the courts.
They are finding some minutiae in some European
law that they know is simply going to delay a
project. It is not going to stop it and yet for
their own reasons use the court systems for
that. The executive needs to ensure the system
is not abused in this way." (source) 15 Apr 2013: Today the DRD Minister made
a statement on the A5. There are four
important elements to the statement. First,
he announced that he would not be appealing the
ruling that the DRD was in breach of the Habitats
Directive. This is not that surprising since DRD
themselves accepted the point, so it's hard to see
on what grounds they could appeal. So the judge
will formally quash the decision to proceed in the
next day or so. Second, he announced that
the DRD would be carrying out the required
analysis under the Habitats Directive now
and added that "when this is completed I will
consider the matter further". He is being
very careful with what he says, adding the warning
that "it is important that the outcomes
of any new assessment are not pre-judged and
therefore I cannot provide any further detail at
this time regarding timescales other than to say
that there will be substantial delay." So at
this point he is pressing ahead with the A5
project, but the ambiguous wording means that he
has neither abandoned nor fully committed to it.
He seems to be holding off a final decision until
the outcome of the assessment is known. This may
be because it is possible that the assessment
might impact on the Environmental Statement, which
has already gone through a Public Inquiry. If this
is the case, a new Public Inquiry might result,
which could delay the project by up to two years.
If not, the process would be quicker, perhaps a
delay of six months. There is also a good chance
that opponents of the scheme will make further
legal challenges. So at this stage we don't know
how long the delay will be. Thirdly, he
said that "my officials will seek to engage
with landowners to carefully work through the
next steps in relation to land issues." This
presumably refers to the awkward situation created
by the fact that preliminary site works have been
underway for some months, and it's not clear to me
exactly what the legal status of the vested land
now is. Fourthly, he made a very
interesting comment that "Given the delay, it
is important that other schemes that may be in a
position to be progressed ahead of the A5 are
given full consideration by the Executive.
Therefore I intend to bring forward an Executive
paper detailing other options such as moving
forward with procurement on other possible
schemes". This is the clearest indication
yet seen that the DRD will seek to bring forward
other schemes to use the surplus money during the
extended delay, as I discussed over on my
blog last week. 8 Apr 2013: The judge today announced his
decision to quash the decision to proceed with
this scheme, a major decision that has the
potential to delay the project by at least 21
months and possibly lead to the Minister
abandoning it entirely. I have written an in-depth
assessment of this decision over
on my blog. The DRD now have 7 days to
decide whether to appeal the decision. If not, and
if the Minister decides to press ahead, it looks
likely that there will have to be a new Public
Inquiry, probably during 2014 with construction
pushed into 2015. This is not a good outcome for
the DRD. I have moved this scheme back down to
"schemes in planning" since it's now unlikely that
it will proceed within the next 12 months. 20 Mar 2013: In my previous update I noted
that the judge had upheld one of the Alternative
A5 Alliance's challenges to the scheme, that the
DRD failed to meet legislation under the Habitats
Directive. I said that the DRD had been given 8
days to come up with new evidence to convince the
judge not to quash the project. From piecing
together various news reports (Newsletter,
UTV
News and BBC
News) I believe that the DRD has (a) asked
the judge for permission to go ahead and complete
the missing report under the Habitats Directive
and (b) is to launch an appeal against the
judgement of 12 March. The judge has neither
approved nor refused the first request, has NOT
yet quashed the decision to proceed with the road
and has adjourned the hearing until 12 April,
which means a further three week delay. However he
has also instructed the DRD to halt all ongoing
site works (see update on 1 Dec 2012 below) if the
former landowners object, which seems very likely
to be the case. The Alternative A5 Alliance are
not happy with this turn of events, and their
lawyer said in court today "My clients have
come a long way this morning and left at early
hours for a matter of the gravest importance to
them, to be told ‘no, the orders are going to
remain in place’ when Your Lordship has found
they are unlawful and in breach of European law." 12 Mar 2013: As anticipated, the judge
gave his ruling today. He rejected 5 of the 6
challenges made by the Alternative A5 Alliance,
but upheld one: that the DRD failed to meet
legislation under the Habitats Directive. They
have been given 8 days to come up with new
evidence to convince the judge not to quash the
project. I have offered more in-depth analysis of
this over
on my blog but the upshot is that the
concept, standard, route and design of the project
has survived the challenge. Since the lack of
compliance with legislation can probably only
delay the project, I think we can say that the
road probably will proceed sooner or later.
Certainly there is no reason why the Omagh to
Ballygawley section cannot proceed, since the lack
of compliance with the Habitats Directive has no
material impact on this stretch. 11 Mar 2013: Apparently the lack of word
since the hearing in mid February is due to the
judge giving a reserved judgement, ie he
considers the matter and makes a judgement at a
later date. The word on
the street is that this will come tomorrow,
12 March. If true, that means that tomorrow we
will find out whether (a) work on the two elements
of the scheme will get underway immediately or (b)
work will have to stop and the DRD revisit the
whole project. Nail biting stuff for both sides.
With thanks to Conor
Macauley at the BBC for the info on the type
of judgement. 3 Mar 2013: There is lots of frustration
at the lack of news on this scheme. The legal
challenge did indeed get underway on 12-14
February, and indeed seems to run on for some days
after that. The objector's case seemed to focus on
the assertion that the environmental statement,
which was prepared for the entire scheme) was
invalid if only part of the scheme was going
ahead. The DRD, for their part, seem to have
offered a robust defence. Since then, however,
there has been no news at all. We don't even know
if the legal challenge is still underway and
paused, or awaiting a judgement, or concluded and
the result not released. The Alternative A5
Alliance, the group making their challenge, do not
seem to keep their
web site up-to-date which does not help.
Whichever is the case, the silence is intensely
frustrating to all concerned. The strong feelings
being generated by this project were manifested
ten days ago in this
incident. 27 Jan 2013: Speaking in
the Assembly last week, the DRD Minister
confirmed that they have been given special
dispensation to carry forward £50m of funding from
the A5 scheme into the 2014-15 financial year,
which is great news as this means the money will
not be lost. It also means that the money will not
have to be reallocated to other projects, however,
so the possibility I have previously spoken about
of other projects being promoted now seems to have
receded again. The situation with the £50m was
also mentioned in the Londonderry Sentinel three
weeks ago. Meanwhile the Minister also
confirmed to the Assembly that if the DRD win's
the legal challenge to be heard in two weeks' time
(12-14 Feb) work on the ground could begin in
earnest by April, around 7 months after the
original start date. 1 Jan 2013: As a new year dawns, there is
at least now a date for the court hearing that
will decide the Alternative
A5 Alliance's legal challenge. It will be
heard on 12-14 February 2012. The A5A are saying
on their web site that "Roads Service confirmed
to the Court that it would not carry out any
interim works, pending the outcome of this case,
on vested land if the former landowners did not
consent to such works being carried out."
Hopefully this court hearing will settle the
matter one way or the other so that everyone can
move on. 1 Dec 2012: The legal challenge is
proceeding with painful slowness. The second
'preliminary' court hearing was held on Thursday,
as reported by the BBC
and UTV.
This hearing seemed to be confined to the two
sides arguing about how much costs they should
have to pay should the other side lose. It now
seems that the main hearing (the judicial review)
will not be heard until January at the earliest,
so the issue that the Executive is losing £700,000
per month due to this delay is becoming a very
real, and very costly issue. If it continues for
much longer we may see other schemes pulled out
from the waiting list for early implementation in
order to salvage some of this money. The main
candidates are on the A6: the Dungiven Bypass,
and the dualling of the stretch from Randalstown to
Castledawson. However, the planning for the
A55 widening
scheme at Knock, Belfast is also well
advanced and could conceivably go ahead with
relatively short notice. Meanwhile, Roads
Service have confirmed that since the Vesting Oder
for the A5 scheme is now in effect, they now own
all the necessary land. They have therefore
commenced advanced site works, which include "fencing
off the vested lands, archaeology surveys,
ground investigation, ecology mitigation for
bats and badgers, service diversions and site
clearance relating to removing possible nesting
habitats. These activities are considered
critical to the construction programme going
forward and some are governed by seasonal
constraints". However, this work is now the
result of a separate legal challenge has been made
against this work, with an application for an
injunction to halt the work scheduled to be heard
"later in December". 20 Nov 2012: Roads Service have confirmed
on
their web site that another preliminary
hearing into the Alternative A5 Alliance's legal
challenge against the scheme has been scheduled
for 29th November. Hopefully we will move quickly
on this issue so that it can be resolved either
way. As there is now a real risk of some of this
funding being lost to Northern Ireland, there
appear to be considerable efforts going on behind
the scenes involving both DRD and the Department
of Finance to find alternative places that the
money can be spent before it is lost, and also to
secure a commitment from Westminster not to take
the money back if this is not possible. 6 Nov 2012: Well this scheme must now hold
the record for the one with the most number of
updates on this site without any work having taken
place! However, in the Assembly
today, the DRD Minister confirmed that,
despite the current legal action, "the
contractors have been instructed to carry out
preliminary works, which include ground
investigation, ecology works and service
diversions. That work is currently ongoing."
This does NOT mean the scheme has begun, as the
main scheme is the subject of the legal challenge,
but it does mean that the preparatory works can be
done. He also confirmed that the DRD is having to
return £10m from their budget to the Executive for
each month that the legal challenge delays the
work. Of this, around £700,000 is an actual loss
to the Executive due to "direct, quantified
inflationary increases arising from
month-on-month delays to the start of
construction". The Deputy First Minister
gave some relief to concerns that the money might
not return to the A5 scheme when he said "the
money for [the A5] has been ring-fenced by our
Administration, so there is no threat to that".
He also said that, as far as the legal challenge
is concerned, "it is quite clear that the
Department for Regional Development (DRD) is
very focused on the need to proceed with [the A5
scheme]. I understand that there is some
concern about the delay, but DRD is going to
robustly defend that action and has instructed
senior counsel to take it forward as quickly as
possible". The Executive appears resolved on
the matter. 24 Oct 2012: The DRD issued a notice
on 30 May 2012 inviting tenders for archaeological
investigations on the route of the A5WTC. This
notice was subsequently cancelled
in mid September due to "unacceptable tenders",
although the delay caused by the current legal
challenge may also have been a factor. Meanwhile,
a preliminary
court hearing into the legal challenge by
the Alternative A5 Alliance (A5A) was held in the
High Court, Belfast yesterday. In this short
hearing submissions were made by both sides. The
Alternative A5 Alliance's case seems to be
that the Environmental impact assessment was not
carried out properly. The barrister for the A5A
says he plans to apply for "interim relief" that
would prevent the DRD carrying out any work on the
scheme. He claimed that the DRD have told him they
intend to begin archaeological surveys on 29th
October, although I have not been able to verify
this. The A5A also want some kind of order that
would limit the amount of legal costs they have to
pay if they lose. The defence of the DRD,
apart from presumably defending the environmental
impact assessment, is to argue that the A5A was
not an actual incorporated organisation, but
rather a group of 18 individuals. Their barrister
argued that they do not meet the legal definition
of an "agreived person" and additionally that they
could not enforce any court costs against such a
group if the DRD won the case. So they seem to be
trying to have the case thrown out on this basis.
A full court hearing has been scheduled for
November. It is starting to look as if this legal
challenge is going to cause a considerable delay
to the project, perhaps into next year. The delay
is seeing £10m per month revert from the transport
budget to the Executive for reallocation, which is
very bad news. Let us hope that the case is
decided as soon as possible. 2 Oct 2012: The DRD have stated on
their web site that they received the legal
challenge by the Alternative
A5 Alliance on 10th September. It has since
been revealed that the challenge is creating serious
budget problems. Because the DRD's budget
has been set by the Executive, the money for the
A5 must be sent on the A5. This means that for
every month the scheme is delayed beyond the start
date (October) a total of £10m will have to be
returned to the Executive, with no guarantee that
it will be re-allocated back to transport. This
will presumably also cause knock-on delays to
later schemes such as the A6 Dungiven Bypass which
are likely to be next in line after the A5. In
addition, the DRD will also have to pay £750,000
in interest over and above the £10m, which will be
an additional loss from the transport budget. It
should be said that the Alternative A5 Alliance
have the absolute legal right to mount a legal
challenge, and as this is a democracy, their case
must be given time. If the DRD's case for the A5
is robust and legally valid then it will survive
the challenge. But let us hope that it is resolved
quickly so that, either way, there is certainty
and no unnecessary waste of money. For now, the
scheme is on hold and the contractors and their
employees must remain idle. 11 Sep 2012: This update is to bring two
different news items. Firstly, the Ulster
Farmers Union has called on the Land and
Property Service (the government body carrying out
the land acquisition for the DRD) to give higher
levels of compensation to landowners. In Northern
Ireland, farmers are given the market value of
their land, whereas in Great Britain they are also
given additional money to help the expense of
relocating, etc. The UFU says this amounts to
about an extra 10%. Secondly, the Alternative
A5 Alliance, an umbrella group representing
various landowners and environmentalists opposed
to the A5, yesterday launched legal proceedings in
an attempt to have the project stopped. This is
likely to delay commencement, which had been due
either this month or in October. It is not yet
clear on what grounds the Alliance is challenging
the scheme, and how much this will delay matters.
Since the arguments against the scheme have
already been aired at the Public Inquiry, the
challengers may instead argue that the DRD has not
followed the correct process. The DRD has yet to
respond. 27 Aug 2012: Late last week it was
announced that infrastructure firm Mouchel has gone into
administration. This is relevant to the A5
since Mouchel has been the main consultant for the
A5 project (ie, helping Roads Service progress the
design). The firm relies heavily on government
spending, which has fallen across the UK, and the
company has now reached the point where it cannot
continue in its current form. However, it seems
that the firm is not going to disappear. Instead,
its main creditors (three banks) will become its
owners and it will continue to trade. This
more recent news story confirms that it will
continue to trade, and therefore the A5 scheme
should not be affected. The contractors that will
be constructing the A5 are not associated with
Mouchel and are unaffected. 31 Jul 2012: Today the DRD published the
long-awaited Inspector's
Report (ie the outcome of the public
inquiry), along with the expected Departmental
Statement (Roads Service's response to the
Inspector's recommendations). As widely expected,
the scheme has
been approved, with the Inspector being
convinced that the DRD has made a good case for
proceeding with the scheme. However, he made a
number of recommendations, most of which relate to
specific mitigation elements for specific
residents and landowners. Roads Service has either
accepted or deferred decisions on most of these,
rejecting only a handful. The Inspector has
recommended that the whole stretch from
Newbuildings to Ballygawley go ahead. However, he
has recommended that the final stretch from
Ballygawley to Aughnacloy be postponed "until
the details of the link with the N2 at the
border with the Irish Republic have been clearly
identified". In other words, until it is
decided if and when the existing N2 on the
Monaghan side of the border will be upgraded. In
practice this could be many years away, so for all
intents and purposes we can regard this stretch as
abandoned. This is not entirely surprising, as it
has by far the lowest traffic levels, and had its
worst stretch at Tullyvar upgraded two
years ago. Because of this decision, the existing
roundabout at the Ballygawley end of the existing
A4 dual-carriageway will be retained, and will not
be removed as was previously proposed. 21 Jul 2012: Ten days ago the BBC
published an article saying they understood
that the proposed upgrade to the A5 will pass the
Public Inquiry, although recommending delaying the
short stretch from Ballygawley to the border at
Aughnacloy until it's clear what is going to
happen to the N2 in county Monaghan. Roads Service
did not respond to this or offer any more details.
However, the minutes of a Roads Service Board
meeting held
on 30 March, but just published, seem to
confirm this. These minutes state that "the
production of a supplementary vesting order will
be required to acquire land needed to implement
a number of the Inspector’s recommendations".
This statement implies that by March 2012 it had
already been decided that the scheme would be
going ahead, as there would obviously be no need
to produce a supplementary vesting order if the
scheme was not going to be built. It also suggests
that some of the inspector's recommendations
involve additional elements, for example
alternative access arrangements for landowners, or
modifications to bits of the design. The feeling
of certainty is echoed in a second comment: "it
is hoped to complete the statutory orders
process during the summer months and to commence
construction in September 2012". I would
expect some kind of official announcement in the
very near future, as a September start date is
only 6-10 weeks away. We already know that the two
sections that will go ahead will be Newbuildings-Strabane
and Omagh-Ballygawley,
although the announcement will probably concern
the entire proposal, not just these two stretches. 3 Jul 2012:
In a Written
Answer last week, the DRD Minister indicated
that the long-awaited Inspector's Report will be
published during the next four weeks. This is the
outcome of the Public Inquiry, and it will
indicate the Inspector's recommendations. At the
same time, the DRD will publish a Departmental
Statement which will set out its response to the
Inspector's Report and how the DRD intends to
address any concerns that were raised in it. 13 Mar 2012:
The DRD Minister announced
late last week that he has now been given
the Inspector's Report into the public inquiry. A
public inquiry has an independent inspector who
writes up his report afterwards and presents it to
the DRD. The DRD do not publish it straight away,
but instead spend time digesting the
recommendations and coming up with their proposed
way ahead. This is published as a "Departmental
Statement", along with the Inspector's report.
This announcement therefore means that the
Inspector has finished his report, but it will not
be published just yet. The Minister indicated that
he plans to publish the Departmental Statement in
"early summer". This represents a bit of slippage
on the timescale, since last year we had thought
the Inspector's report would be given to DRD
before the end of 2011 (see below update for 30
October 2011). This does not, however, jeopardise
the intent to begin construction of the initial
two sections of the A5 upgrade (subject to the
Inspector's recommendations) in September or
October 2012. 14 Feb 2012:
Today brought some long-awaited clarity to the
situation as the Finance Minister Sammy Wilson finally
announced what is to happen to the money
that had been allocated to the A5 scheme, in light
of the postponement of Dublin's £400m
contribution. We therefore do not have enough cash
to build the whole scheme ourselves. Late last
year there was a bit of an awkward falling-out in
the Executive with the Finance Minister Sammy
Wilson claiming
the project was now not going to happen, and the
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness claiming
that it was going ahead as planned. It seems that
it has now been agreed to go ahead with the A5
scheme, but separate it into phases over a
longer timescale. Therefore today it was announced
that, subject to the outcome of the Public
Inquiry, two smaller chunks of the A5 will be
going ahead within the next four years. The press
release from the First
and Deputy First Ministers is more specific
in terms of costs than the DRD
press release, so I am going with the
former. The two elements that are going ahead are:
This amounts to just over 40% of the total length
of the scheme, while the total cost of £330m is
just under 40% of the total. The remaining 60% is
still a live project - this announcement merely
means that they will not begin in the next four
years. Significantly there will be NO new bypasses
of either Strabane or Omagh. It is a bit of a
surprise that it is the stretch south of
Omagh, rather than the Omagh Bypass, that
has got the go-ahead. In 2006 Roads Service
regarded a new bypass of Omagh as more important
than the stretch south of Omagh, and traffic
experiences more holdups going through Omagh than
it does on the Ballygawley stretch. The section
between Omagh and Strabane will also not be built,
nor will the southernmost stretch from Ballygawley
to Aughnacloy. This final stretch to Aughnacloy is
of dubious justification, due to very low traffic
levels, and indeed I am half expecting it to be
rejected by the Public Inquiry the report of which
is due to the published this spring, according to
the DRD Minister today. The DRD Minister indicated in his press release
that these two schemes could get underway "in
September or October 2012", which is very soon
indeed. The contractors for these two stretches
will be happy, but the contractor for the middle
stretch (Sisk, Roadbridge, PT McWilliams, Fehily
Timoney Gifford) will be disappointed that no work
is to take place on that stretch in the next four
years. In due course I will be creating two new
pages for these smaller schemes. 12 Dec 2011: Many
people are understandably keen to know what is
going to happen about the A5 now, and indeed what
will happen with other planned schemes in Northern
Ireland. Last week the Minister for Regional
Development answered questions about the A5 in
the Assembly. He said that he would not be
making any decisions until at least two things had
been done. Firstly, he intends to wait until the
Inspector's report into the Public Inquiries into
the A5 is published, likely to be January 2012. He
will then wait for this to be considered, any
changes made to the plan and the new plan is
costed to give a final budget estimate. Secondly,
he intends to wait until after the DRD has had a
discussion with the Irish Department of Transport
to decide exactly how the funding is going to work
now, a meeting that is also expected in January
2012. On this matter he said "That process will,
undoubtedly, affect the funding that is
available to my Department and, therefore,
potentially, delivery of the strategic roads
programme." Thirdly he needs to wait
until it is known just how much of Stormont's
money for the A5 is going to be reallocated back
to the DRD. Since the money was designated
specifically for the A5, not roads in general, it
needs to go back to the source before being
re-allocated to departments. In other words, we
cannot assume yet that the money will be made
available for other road schemes. Of these three
reasons, it is the latter two which are key. While
it is important to know the final budget figure,
it is hardly going to be so divergent from the
current estimates that a decision on construction
has to be held off until then. So the main reason
for the delay is that the DRD simply does not know
how much money it will have either from Stormont
or from the Irish government for the next few
years. Until these questions are settled, things
will probably continue in limbo much as they are
now. The only other news on the scheme is confirmation
in a Written
Answer that the contracts with the
contractors were in two stages: the first was
design, and the second was build. The three
sections of the A5 will only progress to the
"build" phase in the event of the money being
available and the road getting the legal go-ahead.
Therefore, while it is a massive blow to the
industry, no compensation will be due to them. 12 Nov 2011: Yesterday,
following a meeting between the Irish Taoiseach
and the First and Deputy First Ministers, it was announced
that Dublin now WILL be providing some funding for
the scheme, abeit €50m/£42m (around 10% of the
amount previously announced) with half paid in
2015 and half in 2016. Full details will be
revealed on Friday 18th, when there is a meeting
of the North-South Ministerial Council. The Deputy
First Minister was quoted on UTV
as saying "I
think it's fair to say it's back on track
again". I would advise taking this with a
large pinch of salt, however. Before last
Wednesday's announcement, the whole scheme was due
to get underway next year. Even with today's
revelation, there seems little prospect of any
significant work being underway even by 2016. £42m
is barely enough to build 5% of the road, and
Stormont could certainly not stump up the remaing
95% in that timeframe. I would see this, instead,
as a token gesture by Dublin in the face of
political pressure to prove that they remain
committed to the scheme. So what will happen next?
If the scheme does indeed proceed as designed, the
only way any work could get underway in the next 5
years + would be to build smaller, isolated
sections as separate schemes. The most arguable
sections are: the bit bypassing Omagh; and an
upgrade of the stretch from Strabane to L'Derry,
both of which were live proposals before the main
A5 scheme was even thought of. Perhaps there will
be more details on Friday, but either way I think
it's fair to say that the scheme is now of a
fundamentally different nature. 9 Nov 2011: Well,
I find myself adding yet another update on this
project - but this time it is bad news for the
scheme. The Irish
government has said that they cannot afford to
provide the £400m funding in the period up
to 2016 - the official confirmation of which is
due tomorrow. Since Stormont cannot possibly
afford the whole cost of the scheme, this
effectively means the project will be put on ice
until at least 2016. Contrary to some what some
headlines have said, the Irish government has said
that it remains "politically" committed to the
scheme, so the problem is one of current
affordability. A spokesperson said "The [Irish]
Government remains politically committed to this
project, however - given the tight fiscal
constraints - roads investment will be focused
on maintaining existing roads, rather than
developing new routes. It is therefore not
anticipated that significant resources will be
available for this project over the medium term."
In other words, the scheme is still a live plan
and could still happen - just not in the
foreseeable future. My comment at the end of
October that the DRD Minister was planning to
re-profile the timing of the A5 scheme has been
confirmed by Sammy Wilson who today said that "we asked them [the
Irish government] to consider a possible
re-profiling of the project. However, given the
current fiscal environment within Republic of
Ireland, Dublin Ministers indicated that the
greater priority was funding urgent schemes
within their jurisdiction." This is quite
understandable, from an objective standpoint. The
DRD Minister Danny Kennedy said "This news is
extremely disappointing with major implications
for the A5 and A8 schemes. This is a commitment
of the Irish Government, confirmed at the North
South Ministerial Council. Clearly it will be a
major item for discussion at the NSMC plenary".
Needless to say, the decision has been met
with uproar in Donegal and also in Tyrone,
the two areas which would most have benefitted.
The money allocated by the Stormont Executive
could now be re-allocated, and not all of it may
come back to the DRD. But if it does, I would
expect to see some movement on the A6 dualling
schemes and the A2 at Greenisland, both of which
were postponed to allow the A5 to proceed.
Finally, although it may well have been discussed
at the time, it is also worth clarifying that the
text of the 2006 St
Andrew's Agreement contains no reference to
the A5 or any other road scheme. 30 Oct 2011:
In July the Minister indicated that he might
be able to outline his position on the A5 "in or
around October" (see below update 4 July). Since
the Minister's own party made a reappraisal of the
A5 one of its manifesto pledges last May, the
absence of such a statement has created
uncertainty for both supporters and opponents of
the scheme. However, in a Question
for Written Answer in the Assembly two weeks
ago, the Minister indicated that he would now not
be making a statement on the subject until "early
2012", ie after the Inspector of the four Public
Inquiries (held in May and June) has reported
back. Roads Service expects to get the reports
before the end of 2011, but will not make them
public at that time as they will take time to
formulate their response before publishing.
Reading between the lines of recent events, it
seems likely to me that the Minister will go ahead
with the A5 scheme, but perhaps with a different
timetable.
8 Oct 2011: There continues to be slight
uncertainty about when exactly the Minister
plans to press ahead with this scheme. Until now the
official position has been as
described in July: "Roads Service
has currently been allocated a sizeable
capital spend of nearly £1.2 billion over
the four year Budget period. However,
two-thirds of this, almost £800 million, is
presently allocated to two major road
schemes, [the A5 and A8]. This leaves little
for other schemes. Upgrades of the A32, to
improve access to the new hospital at
Enniskillen, are anticipated to start this
year.... The budget does not allow for any
other major works to start until 2014/15
when over £60 million is available." There is now
evidence that he may be planning to
"reprofile" it rather than cancel it. This
basically means spreading the project out over
a longer timescale, hence reducing the amount
of money that is needed each year. This would
allow a bit more money to be made available
for other projects in each of the next few
years. The minutes
of a meeting in July (just published)
contains the first clue: "[Head of Roads
Service Geoff Allister] Geoff said that
Roads Service would continue with
development work, including progression
through the statutory processes, so that
possible schemes could be “parked” at an
appropriate point, to be re- activated
should finance become available." The
second clue came this week when the Minister announced
that the had brought forward plans to re-lay
the Belfast-Derry railway line to 2012/13.
Although the press release doesn't say where
the £27m needed initially is coming from, the
BBC
article quotes a Sinn Fein MLA claiming
that the money is being taken from the A5
budget. This could only happen through a form
of reprofiling such as outlined above. But at
this point there is no indication that Danny
Kennedy is planning to axe the A5 upgrade. It has
also been
revealed that, to date, £38m has been
spent on this project of which £29.8m has been
spent on the project consultants (those doing
the land surveys and detailed design). The
£38m figure represents 4.5% of the total
estimated project cost, and while it is a very
large sum in absolute terms, is not surprising
or excessive for a project of this scale. It
does, however, serve to illustrate how
reprofiling the scheme could lead to
significant benefits for other projects. For
those interested, Roads Service has now put
the complete
transcripts of the two-month public inquiry
onto their web site. The inquiries were held
during May and June. It is also confirmed that
the proposed Strabane-Lifford
Link Road will be going ahead as part of
the A5 scheme - as evidenced by the Direction
Order which was published on 19 July
2011. 4 Jul 2011: As we know, the "Roads" Minister has indicated that he will consider the future of this scheme only once the public inquiry has finished an the Inspector has submitted his report. In a question-and-answer session in Stormont two weeks ago he said that "my expectation is that I will have the report of the public inquiry in the early autumn" and went on to say that "it may be possible to outline things [his response to the report] in or around October." Although this is couched in vague terms, it at least gives us some idea when we might know his thoughts on progressing the scheme. Two weeks ago some very strongly worded comments were made in Stormont by the deputy First Minister: "There is no question about the road. However, questions remain about the outcome of the inquiry, about whatever discussions officials will have in the aftermath of the inquiry and about how they take forward the project. The project is very far advanced. Contractors have been informed that they have the tenders for three stages of the road. I think that the project is unstoppable. It is now a matter of how it is taken forward to try to minimise the costs to our Administrations, North and South." While he does acknowledge that there is a current Public Inquiry, I feel it is inappropriate for such a senior government figure to describe a scheme that is the subject of an ongoing public inquiry as "unstoppable". Such language undermines the legitimacy of the Inquiry and will create an impression that it is merely a rubber-stamp with no actual purpose, a box-ticking exercise that must be completed before we can move on. Public Inquiries are a vital part of the democratic process, and on this site I always encourage as many people as possible to participate. Unless a public inquiry carries the real possibility of leading to a recommendation that all or part of a scheme not go ahead, then it is a pointless exercise. 5 Jun 2011: As the Public Inquiries continue (the Section 2 one being due to begin tomorrow), there is at last some certainty from the new leadership in Dublin. The Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has somewhat surprisingly publicly reaffirmed his committment to the Irish contribution of £400m. He said: "The previous government had committed to put money in there and we will honour that commitment". However this certainty has been replaced by much more uncertainty from the new Roads Minister Danny Kennedy who has signalled that he will review the scheme, but that he will do so only once the public inquiry has been completed and the inspector has submitted his report (likely to be some months away). Danny Kennedy is from the Ulster Unionist Party which is much cooler on this scheme than the previous Minister Conor Murphy who is a member of Sinn Féin. The media also quote Roads Service as saying that design work on the scheme has already cost £35m – although this is hardly surprising given how advanced the scheme is. In recent months we were all wondering whether events in Dublin would kill this scheme, but we are now suddenly in the situation where it is events in Belfast that will decide it. 14 May 2011: The first of the four public inquiries began on 9th May in Omagh. This one is looking at the entire scheme and its rationale. I don't intend to provide a blow-by-blow account of the inquiry on this site, but this news story from the Irish Times yesterday provides a useful summary of the case against the road being made by the environmental lobby using the umbrella term "PlanBetter". The article also claims that Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that the planners of the A5 should "look at making savings", although I can't find any independent verification of this. Meanwhile, this news story from the Belfast Telegraph on Tuesday sets out Roads Service's case. Despite Enda Kenny's purported comments, there is still no indication that the Irish government intends to withdraw its committment to funding the scheme as made as part of the St Andrew's Agreement. On Friday the d'Hondt system of sharing Ministries in the newly convened Northern Ireland Assembly resulted in the Department for Regional Development Ministry (which includes roads) falling to the Ulster Unionist Party (previously it was held by Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy who has championed this scheme). The UUP leader Tom Elliott is known to be against this scheme, so this may create some interesting dynamics as this viewpoint clashes with others in the coming months. But this essentially means that the UUP will now decide the direction of transport in Northern Ireland. 25 Apr 2011: A series of pre-inquiry meetings were held between 6th and 11th April which were to "outline procedural matters for the inquiries". We now know that there will be four separate public inquiries, starting follows:
If recent debate is anything to go by, these are likely to be more impassioned public inquiries than we have been used to in recent years. Roads Service seem to be well aware of this, since they have set aside almost two months for the inquiries. Meanwhile the scheme appears to have become a key election issue, with the UUP manifesto (for example) including a committment to re-thinking this scheme ("An urgent review of the decision to commit over 50% of DRD’s next budget to a road from Donegal to Dublin. We advocate a refocusing on the need to commission the A2 project at Greenisland, rather than the A5 Western Transport Corridor") while the Sinn Fein manifesto includes a committment to press ahead with the scheme ("to address regional inequalities in infrastructure – particularly through the A5 Aughnacloy to Derry major road scheme"). Of all Roads Service schemes, this scheme currently has the highest priority. There is still nothing to concrete to suggest that the Republic of Ireland's financial contribution will not bo forthcoming, so barring a major change in the balance at Stormont the scheme still looks likely to proceed. 14 Feb 2011: The Public Inquiry has now been officially announced. The statement does not give a start date, other than to say that it will probably be in May 2011. The Minister also said that "because of the length of the project and the extent of the interest, it has been decided that the A5 Public Inquiry will be held at a number of locations along the route". There have been over 2000 objections to the scheme so it seems likely that the Inquiry will have to sit for an extended period of time. 10 Feb 2011: According to a written answer two weeks ago, the Public Inquiry into this scheme is anticipated to take place in May/June this year, which is only four months away. The answer also states that the benefit/cost ratio of the scheme is estimated to be 1.74. This ratio is a measure of how the economic benefits of the road compare to the costs. Anything above 1.0 is positive. 1.74 is not the highest there is (the A6 scheme from Dungiven to Londonderry is around 2.31) but equally some other schemes have a lower value (the A2 at Greenisland is around 1.34). A week ago the BBC reported that the number of objections to the project may have been exaggerated, since it has been discovered that "scores of people have complained that they did not send objecting letters to Roads Service receivedin their name". 14 Jan 2011: The DRD has released its draft budget for the period 2011-2015. This shows that the A5 and A8 schemes are being progressed at all costs - all other schemes (with the exception of the Cherrymount Link in Enniskillen) have been put on hold until at least 2015 in order to ensure there is sufficient money for the A5 and A8. Even so, the budget assumes that the £400m contribution from the Irish government comes through (see previous update). The decision to press ahead with the A5 and A8 will certainly provoke debate because (a) a number of smaller schemes are being sacrificed to allow the A5 and A8 to proceed (b) the Irish government contribution carries a high risk of withdrawal (c) the A5 is one of the most controversial in recent years. 12 Dec 2010: In November there appeared to be renewed certainty about the Irish contribution to this scheme when the Irish government released its budget committing to the scheme. However, this certainty has unravelled again in the past week with an indication that the Irish Labour party may pull out of the agreement if it gains power in the next General Election (due on or before 14 July 2011). While there is, of course, the complication that this funding was part of the St Andrew's Agreement, their position nevertheless seems clear: "At the present time, we are experiencing savage cutbacks in education, health and social welfare. Giving Northern Ireland £400million towards its roads is not a priority for the Labour Party. ... We are no longer in a position to fund the section of the [Dublin-Derry] road in the south so how could we fund the northern section?" [Irish News 9 Dec 2010] . They are not saying they will definitely pull out of the scheme, but are saying that it is an option. If the Irish funding (which represents 47% of the total cost) is withdrawn it does not necessarily scupper the plan, but it may affect its timescale, whether it all proceeds at once and whether or not their is a knock-on effect on other schemes in Northern Ireland. 25 Nov 2010: With the economic crisis in the Republic of Ireland reaching crunch point yesterday, those involved in this scheme eagerly waited news of what would happen to Dublin's £400m contribution to this scheme. The answer came in the last line of this press release from the Irish Dept of Transport yesterday. €20m of the cost has been allocated from existing funds in 2011 and 2012, while the the bulk of the cost (presumably the bulk of the £400m) will be met from the Capital Reserve Fund (CRF). Thanks to a site visitor who e-mailed me with the details, I can state that the CRF was first mentioned in the Capital Expenditure Review of July 2010 which said: "The revised Public Capital Programme also incorporates a new ‘Capital Reserve Fund’. This Fund will be used to finance emerging investment priorities which may arise over the medium term. The Fund will only be drawn upon in circumstances where economic developments present emerging opportunities for investments which produce demonstrable net benefits to the State." In other words, the fund has just been announced and probably does not currently exist. Presumably the intention is to create the fund by 2013, but where the money to go into the fund will come from is not stated. So I think we are no clearer about the security of the Irish contribution. Even with a 40% cut in capital funding, Roads Service probably would have sufficient funds to build the entire scheme itself, but this would come at the cost of postponing almost every other scheme in the next five years. In other news, transport commentator Christian Wolmar held a talk in Ballygawley yesterday in which, according to the BBC, he criticised the A5WTC scheme in terms of (a) its cost and (b) its environmental impact. However, the BBC report does not quote him speaking in relation to the safety aspects of the scheme - reducing deaths and serious injuries on the A5 is Roads Service's primary justification for the scheme. It has been suggested that a 2+1 upgrade of the existing road would be a better option. This, however, would be unlikely to have a significant impact on fatalities as most of the causes of accidents would remain (eg right-turns, large number of private accesses, lack of a central safety barrier, inconsistent road geometry, high speed differentials at junctions etc) and would also require significant demolition of homes. 17 Nov 2010: Roads Service held the "Pre-Orders Exhibition" from 2-5 Nov 2010. This is basically to set out the final, final design. To their credit, the planners have actually made a significant number of changes to the proposed route after the previous round of public exhibitions. Detailed maps of the entire finalised route can be downloaded here. Significantly, the design also shows junction layouts for the first time which will allow me (when time permits) to create a junction strip map. The route features five at-grade roundabouts (one at the southern terminus in Aughnacloy, one with the A4 at Ballygawley, one in Strabane where the road turns at 90° and two at the northern terminus at Newbuildings). The rest are a mixture of compact grade-separated junctions and full-spec junctions such as on the A32 Dromore Road in Omagh which is planned as a full-scale roundabout interchange. The maps also contain junction numbers, but these may be merely labels for the diagrams rather than an indication that the finished road will have junction numbers like motorways do. The maps also show that the recently-completed roundabout at Ballygawley is to be demolished and the A4 dual-carriageway extended by 1km to meet the line of the upgraded A5. Despite significant economic woes south of the border, the Republic of Ireland agreed a payment schedule on 20 October for the £400m Dublin is to contribute to the project, ie just under 50% of the cost. This scheme has attracted opposition that local road building has not seen since the proposal to run a road through Lagan Valley Regional Park was axed twenty years ago. This is being led by the Ulster Unionist Party, which has essentially come out against the proposals. Opposition to the scheme appears to be threefold: (a) the damage to farmland (b) the environmental impact of a major new road and (c) the high cost of the scheme. At the same time, this tragedy a week ago illustrates why something needs to be done with this road. Nevertheless, the scheme is being rapidly progressed and the draft statutory orders were published a few days ago. You can download them from here - although there are literally hundreds of files including details maps of the land to be vested. The "Roads" Minister confirmed last week that the public inquiry is still planned for "mid 2011" with construction to begin "2012-13". 17 Aug 2010: During the most recent round of public consultations a substantial number of landowners wished to discuss alternatives to the Preferred Route, which was announced last summer. Roads Service took down these suggestions and has recently completed a study into each of them, available here. In 12 cases they have recommended that the suggested alternatives be adopted, rather than the preferred route. In 20 further cases, the alternatives have not been adopted. The document briefly explains why in each case. The document once again rejects the possibility of an online upgrade, as the reasons for its objection outlined in early 2009. It should also be stated that there is a sizeable level of local opposition to the entire scheme, not only from farmers but other stakeholders as well. Last week a group of travelling environmentalists set up a temporary camp called "Climate Camp" near Victoria Bridge to protest against the scheme. A group referring to itself as the "Alternative A5 Alliance" has also been set up to campaign for the project to be scrapped and replaced by a reinstatement of the former railway line. However it is difficult to judge just how much in favour or in opposition the general public in Tyrone are. The Belfast Telegraph last week published a piece setting out arguments both for and against the new road. 23 Jan 2010: In the Assembly on 18th January, the deputy First Minister reported on a meeting held by the North-South Ministerial Council which discussed the A5. He reported that the Irish government made a payment of €9 million in December, which represents a small initial amount of the £400m that they have committed to the scheme. The Irish government also re-committed themselves to the scheme, which the deputy First Minister described as important, "in view of the debate on the economic situation North and South". He also recognised that some landowners are opposing the scheme for various reasons, but he has chosen to take quite a strong stance on this when he said "let nobody be in any doubt whatsoever that [the A5 and A8 schemes] will go ahead. They are vital for us if we are to develop the economy and a road infrastructure that will allow us to attract inward investment." 14 Dec 2009: Last week the DRD officially announced the names of the three contractors that have been appointed to undertake the detailed design and construction of the three phases. The final list is as follows, confirming that the details publicised a month ago (see below) was correct:
16 Nov 2009: In the Assembly today, the Minister of Regional Development reaffirmed that both he and his Southern counterparts are committed to this scheme, saying "If elected representatives continue to question it, they may create a degree of uncertainty about the project. On every occasion that we have been asked about it, the commitment from the authorities, North and South, has been restated and confirmed". However, while the political will is definitely there, I believe there is still a genuine question mark in the current financial climate over whether or not the high level of funding required will be available in time to meet the tight construction timetable. In any case, the contracts for construction are due to be announce soon, but the information I have says that the appointed contractors will be as follows (unverified and subject to change):
This information is to be confirmed by the end of November. 2 Nov 2009: Roads Service have given more details of the timescale for the scheme over the next few years:
This assumes that the funding is available at the time of construction. However, to date, the Republic of Ireland has given no indication that their contribution will not be forthcoming despite the uncertain financial climate. 16 August 2009: A more detailed version of the preferred route is now available on the "interactive map" on the official A5 web site here. A few other comments can be made since the previous update. Firstly, a detailed look at the alignment of the road past Strabane strongly suggests that the junction between the A5 and the N14/N15 to county Donegal may be an at-grade roundabout. This is because the A5 appears to take a very steep corner here, much too steep for a flowing road. Of course it is also possible that the junction could take the form of a trumpet interchange with the southern end of the A5 flowing directly onto the N14, while the northern part of the A5 is the joining road. This would be a much better option, as major roads like the A1 have been plagued for years by isolated roundabouts such as the one at Hillsborough which cause unnecessary congestion. Michelle Greer, who is the project manager for the central portion of the A5 project, wrote to me to clarify the standard of junctions. She said "we are designing the road to Category 6 under the DMRB (Design Manual for Roads & Bridges... This means that at the lower end of that category we could end up with at-grade junctions (ie roundabouts) and left in/left out junctions along its length. However it also allows for grade separation of junctions... it is not yet a given that all major junctions will be grade separated." This is useful clarification and relevant to the Strabane question. Aso, a site visitor reported that they were told at the public exhibition that the A5 passes quite close to Omagh in order to encourage as much traffic as possible off the local road network and onto the new road. Finally, the cost has now been estimated as £844m. This is at the upper end of the £650m-£850m estimate made back in November 2008, and means that the Irish government's contribution of £400m will pay for less than half the cost of the scheme, with Roads Service left to find £444m to fund it. 23 July 2009: The preferred route was announced on Tuesday, as expected, and was generally in line with what we knew from Noel Dempsey's leak last week. Click here for a PDF of the route. Notable elements of the plan include the fact that the road will start south of Newbuildings, with a single-carriageway bypass of Newbuildings leading into Derry itself. This decision will both reduce disruption to property in the south of the city, and suggests that the concept of providing links to the A2 west of the city and the A6 east of the city may proceed. At Strabane, the decision has been made to go west of the town, between the town and the river. The northern part of this route seems to run either on or close to the existing Strabane Bypass, while the southern part seems to take an offline route further west than the Bypass. The road takes an almost entirely offline route from there all the way to Aughnacloy, which will leave the current road largely intact. It bypasses Newtownstewart to the west (eliminating the need for two more bridges on the existing Newtownstewart Bypass). The road swings by Omagh on the west side, choosing one of the options that is closer to the town. The route crosses the A4 west of the existing (and new) Ballygawley roundabouts, does not utilise the current realignment work at Tullyvar and finally bypasses Aughnacloy on the eastern side to connect with the N2 in county Monaghan. All told, the proposed route seems fair enough. If it happens (which will be dependant on money) it will be a very impressive scheme with the potential to reduce journey times on the entire route by 20 minutes. 14 July 2009: A week before it was due to be announced, Irish Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, has accidentally leaked the preferred route of the scheme via a photograph on his web site! The picture is not very clear, but it is possible to discern the route (thick black line) against the current A5 (thin red line). The route appears to include the following elements:
This information is due to be publicly announced by Conor Murphy on 21st July in Omagh. With thanks to Kieran4003 who spotted this picture. 12 July 2009: Following the forthcoming announcement of the preferred route for the scheme (21 July) Roads Service and Mouchel (the consultants) will be holding public exhibitions as follows:
As always, I would strongly encourage all those with an interest in the scheme to turn up at one of these events as they are the main way to get your views heard. 23 June 2009: The word on the street is that the preferred route for this scheme will be announced in Omagh on 21st July 2009. This is when we will finally know where Roads Service plan to put the road (subject to the public inquiry). 23 May 2009: The Regional Development Minister gave an update on the scheme to the Assembly two weeks ago. He said that the selection of preferred route would be completed in "mid 2009", with the draft statutory orders (legal papers required to progress the project) published "by late 2010". He also said that the procurement process was now underway - divided into three simultaneous phases:
As this project is dependant on £400m from the Republic of Ireland, there is public concern that in the current Recession the Republic may withdraw this promise. However the Minister said that he had been "very forcefully assured... that funding will be forthcoming", and that he has been assured of this a number of times by various people including the Taoiseach. 6 March 2009: The public consultations happened in February as planned, and the response was described as "phenomenal" and "positive". Lots of PDF files outlining the current position and detailed maps of the four route options now being considered can be downloaded from here. These documents suggest that the preferred route will be announced in the summer of 2009, a final accouncement in Autumn 2010, public inquiry perhaps in 2011 with construction perhaps in the period 2012-2015. This is an ambitious timetable, and will be subject to the availability of finance when the time comes. The confirmation that the scheme will have a continuous central reservation is excellent news, and the junction locations seem very appropriate. The only slight disappointment is that there will just be 1 metre hard strips, rather than full hard shoulders. Hard shoulders are an important safety feature since they allow broken down motorists to get their vehicle fully clear of the fast moving traffic, although they do admittedly add several metres to the road width. Finally, one of the members of the A5WTC team e-mailed me to confirm that the estimated cost of the scheme remains £650-£850m. The £500m-£600m mentioned in February's update is merely the construction cost, ie not including land, fees etc. With thanks to that person for the clarification. 12 Feb 2009: Roads Service have announced that the next round of public constulations will take place in mid February. This is part of the process of selecting the actual route within the route corridor announced in November last year. All interested parties should be encouraged to attend these events as this is one of the key opportunities to have your opinions heard. The events are taking place as follows:
In addition, notice of the tender for the actual construction has appeared on the Roads Service web site. The tender is due to be released this month and it confirms that the project will be carried out as three similarly sized, but separate, tenders. Operators will only be allowed to tender for two of these. This was widely anticipated as the project is much larger than any other single road project in Northern Ireland's history. The information gives the estimated value of the scheme as £500m-600m, substantially less than the figure of £650m-850m quoted in last November's initial report. Despite the economic downturn on both sides of the border, the DRD is adamant that this project will proceed as planned. 10 Nov 2008: The next phase of the project has been completed. Having looked in the general area of the A5 (an area up to 15km wide) the team have now narrowed down the route of the dual-carriageway to a much narrower area, which ranges in width from 500 metres to about 3km. This area is known as the "preferred corridor" and is an essential step because the study area is so huge that simply drawing a line on the map is not possible. You can see the preferred corridor on the interactive map here (the area bordered by the dotted red line). Work has now begun on drawing various route options within this preferred corridor, and it is anticipated that these options will be on display at a public consultation in February or March 2009. A description of the route is given above, and you can read the very detailed initial report on the A5 project web site www.a5wtc.com. This report has estimated the cost at £650m-£850m, considerably more than originally estimated (£540m-£660m). Although the economic situation is now dire, putting question marks in people's heads over the viability of either Stormont or Dublin being able to afford this very expensive road, the Regional Development Minister is insisting that it will go ahead and that it is is on schedule. 28 Apr 2008: The document "Investment Delivery Plan for Roads", released in 2008, includes this scheme in the "preparation pool" of schemes likely to proceed by 2013. Given the enormous size of the project, it is hard to see work on all parts of the route proceeding simultaneously, but we shall see. Also, an official web site has been set up for the scheme at www.a5wtc.com. Information on the site is still relatively scarce, but that is due to the fact that the scheme is at an early stage and not many decisions have been made at this point. 16 Dec 2007: According to the Strabane Chronicle last month, the timescale for the first phases of the project are that the general route corridor will be announced at the end of 2008. This is a general path, perhaps a mile or so wide, that determines things like which sides of major towns the route will go but is not the specific route. Apparently the exact "preferred" route will be announced in mid 2009. The preferred route is, of course, then subject to public inquiry. Conor Murphy, Regional Development Minister, is quoted as saying in the article that the funding for the scheme has been "ring fenced" and that it will be "fast tracked". It's unclear what this actually means in terms of the normal processes. In 2007 the Irish government offered £400m to the Northern Ireland Executive to be used for the upgrade of the A5 between the Irish border near Aughnacloy and Londonderry, and the A8 between Newtownabbey and Larne. In July 2007 the Executive accepted the funding. In November 2007 the Executive announced that they would proceed with both schemes at a total cost of £660m. At the time of the preferred route corridor announcement of November 2008 the cost of the A5 scheme alone was given as between £650m and £850m, depending on whether or not the junctions were grade separated (ie flyovers). In a Written Answer in November 2009, the Minister said that the total cost of all three components of the scheme taken separately was £1.11 billion, but insisted that the cost of the combined scheme was still in the region £650m to £850m. As of January 2011 the total cost for the A5 scheme alone is being given as £844m. Note that in 2004, before the Irish had made their offer, a UK study estimated the cost of this scheme as between £346m and £480m depending on the ambitiousness of the design. Land and property prices will have risen since then, but the figures seem to be in the same ballpark. |
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