This ambitious road scheme, which is being progressed thanks partly to 60% of the necessary funds being made available by the Republic of Ireland, will be the single largest road scheme ever undertaken in Northern Ireland. In one single project the entire 55 mile long A5 will be converted to a 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 A5, with the extent of the project illustrated by the red line:

The scheme will see the entire route dualled. However, it is not clear whether it will follow the existing route or a new offline route. Some parts of the A5, such as the Omagh Throughpass, are too confined within an urban area to be upgraded so the road will have to follow a new route here. However, in other places the route is rural and may well be an upgrade of the existing road. If the design follows the same pattern as other recent projects, the road will be to a high standard with no right-turns permitted. In other words all junctions would be either grade-separated (bridges) or LILO (left in, left out). However no work on the route has taken place at the time of writing (Nov 2007) so all these questions are as yet unanswered. A preferred route is due to be announced late in 2009 after what will be a very susbstantial piece of route selection work.

The scheme ties in nearly to certain other projects, principally the N14 dualling scheme in county Donegal and the A4 dualling scheme from Ballygawley to Dungannon. The road will likely join the Strabane-Lifford link road which is currently in the advance planning stages and which is designed to tie the upgraded N14 into the existing A5. Other schemes in the pipeline, such as the 2+1 upgrade of the A5 from Londonderry to Strabane, and phase 3 of the Strabane Bypass, may be abandoned as they will be rendered redundant by this much larger scheme.

The offer of funding was accepted by the Northern Ireland Executive at a plenary session of the North-South Ministerial Council on 17 July 2007. The press release states that "The Northern Ireland Executive confirmed its acceptance, in principle, to taking forward these two major road projects." and then that "The route serving the North West Gateway will be taken forward in line with funding and accountability, planning, management and delivery arrangements agreed between the Irish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. Relevant Ministers will take forward the necessary steps to progress this project, including the early commencement of a route corridor study."

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):

1. Cross Border Steering Group
2. Technical Group
3. Project Team

Updates

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.

Note on Costs

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. As this amount was not allocated separately between the two schemes, the figures above assume that both schemes have the same cost per kilometre. So the Irish contribution given above as £340m, and the total cost of £560m also given above, are based on the assumption that 85% of the funds for the two schemes will go towards the A5 scheme. This may not be accurate and should be taken as indicative only.

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.