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This major project was announced on 13 December 2005 by the Northern Ireland Secretary of State Peter Hain as part of a larger investment package for the city of Derry. It will see a dual-carriageway bypass of Dungiven town and dualling of the existing A6 from there to the A2 on the north-eastern periphery of Derry city. The road will be build to a high quality with two lanes each way, no breaks in the central barrier and fully grade separated junctions (ie flyovers). Plans announced in 2004 for a single-carriageway bypass of Dungiven at a cost of £11.1m have been subsumed by this much larger scheme, although the preliminary work done will still apply. As of 2008 the scheme was listed in Roads Service's "preparation pool", meaning commencement is anticipated "within 5 years". The map below shows the section of the A6 affected by this upgrade.
Route The chosen route closely follows the existing A6, except that it bypasses Drumahoe well to the north at the Derry end, and bypasses Dungiven to the south. In May 2009 Roads Service published maps showing the chosen route. The maps are (as of May 2009) available from the following links:
Roads Service have put an enormous amount of information on their web site about this scheme (see link at top of page). It includes the 2004 report into the single-carriageway Dungiven Bypass then proposed. It also includes the 2007 report into dualling the entire A6 route from Castledawson to Derry. The current scheme is based on portions of both of these. Strip Junction Map This is a strip map of the design that was published in May 2009. Note that the design may change between this map and construction due to the evolution of the design, and the public inquiry.
Updates 1 May 2013: In my previous update I
commented that with the 12-18 month delay to the
A5 project, the "Dungiven Bypass" element of this
scheme must surely be high up the list of possible
alternative schemes to be progressed in the
meantime. In the Assembly
yesterday the Minister seemed favourable to
the idea when that precise question was put to
him. He said "I am pleased to confirm that the
design of the scheme allows for the Dungiven
bypass to be taken forward and completed as the
first phase of the scheme. It will provide 4·8
kilometres of dual carriageway bypassing
Dungiven to the south at a total cost in the
range of £60 million to £80 million. The
construction of this element of the scheme would
be dependent — and this is the key thing — on
the availability of finance in subsequent
periods." The last sentence is something he
'has to say' since the Executive has not yet
agreed how the A5 money will be reallocated, but
the first two sentences show that decoupling the
Bypass section from the larger scheme is a
distinct possibility. The main bit of work still
to be done is the analysis of the Inspector's
Report from last September's Public Inquiry which
has been received but not published. 15 Apr 2013: According to a Question
for Written Answer in the Assembly, the DRD
Minister has now received the report from the
Inspector at last September's Public Inquiry. This
is almost exactly to the timescale predicted at
the end of the Inquiry (see update below for 4
Oct) which is nice. The report will not be
published just yet. Typically, the DRD take a few
months to examine it and respond to any
recommendations before publishing both the
inspector's report and their response (called a
"Departmental Statement") simultaneously. We could
expect to see this before the end of 2013. Given
the recent delays on the A5 project, the "Dungiven
Bypass" element of this scheme (a small but
critical part of the whole scheme) is surely high
up on the list of possible schemes to be taken
forward at an earlier date, so it is very timely
that the Public Inquiry report has been received.
Let us hope that there were not too many issues
with the plans. 24 Oct 2012: For those with a particular
interest in this scheme, Roads Service have just
published transcripts of the six day Public
Inquiry that took place a month ago. You can download
them here. This is only the third time that
I know of that Roads Service have published such
transcripts (the first two being for the A55 at
Knock and the A5 WTC) and is a very welcome
development for public transparency. Happy
reading! 4 Oct 2012: The Public Inquiry into this
scheme took place as planned from 24th September
to 2nd October, and finished on schedule having
heard over 125 objections. The Inspector, JA Robb,
will finish by conducting site visits on 9th and
10th October. The DRD say that they expect the
Inspector to submit his report "before the end of
March 2013", but it is important to note that it
will not be published at that point. The DRD
typically take a few months more to consider the
recommendations and outline their response before
publishing it. So we might expect to see it around
the summer time next year. Detailed information
about the objections, along with transcripts of
the Public Inquiry are (or soon will be) available
here. With thanks to Paul McCloskey. Some
(including me!) are speculating that the
unexpected delays to the A5 scheme over the past
month might free up some money over the coming
months that could potentially be redirected to the
Dungiven Bypass element of this scheme. This is
quite possible, since the Minister has already indicated
that he is sympathetic to the idea of proceeding
with the Dungiven Bypass ahead of the rest of the
scheme. Watch this space. 26 Jun 2012:
We now
know that the Public Inquiry into this
scheme will begin at 10am on 24 September 2012, in
the Roe Park Hotel, 40 Drumrane Road, Limavady
BT49 9LB. The Inspector will be JA Robb, who was
also the Inspector for the A8 Larne Public Inquiry
and the A6 Castledawson-Randalstown dualling
Public Inquiry. Roads Service has also published
their pre-Inquiry Departmental
Statement, which sets out in considerable
detail their case for building the road as
proposed. This contains some interesting
historical information and is worth a read for
that reason alone. In another interesting
development, speaking
in the Assembly yesterday the DRD Minister
gave a strong hint that the Dungiven Bypass
section may be decoupled from the rest of the
scheme and built separately. They had previously
resisted this as it was anticipated that the
entire A6 scheme would proceed before too long,
and hence there was little to gain by dealing with
Dungiven separately. However, as it now seems as
if it could be some years before the scheme is
built, there would now be merit in building the
Dungiven Bypass scheme separately (see update
below for 14 Feb 2012). The Minister said: "I can confirm that
it will be possible to bring forward the draft
statutory Orders for the construction of the
bypass at Dungiven ahead of and without
compromising the future delivery of the
remainder of that scheme. However, this is, of
course, all conditional on available funding."
This is interesting news. 24 Jun 2012: The
DRD Minister has announced
that (not surprisingly) a Public Inquiry will be
held into this scheme, since it attracted 122
objections during the consultation period between
December 2011 and March 2012. The Inquiry will
probably be held in late September, and further
details are due to be released this week. This is
later than anticipated last summer, but still
welcome. There is currently no financial
commitment to actually build the scheme, but it is
important to keep progressing the scheme so that
it is 'good to go' if and when money becomes
available. 14 Feb 2012:
Today saw a major
announcement of how the money for roads will
be spent over the next four years. This scheme was
not among them. This was not surprising, but until
now we have had at least hoped that it might begin
around 2014/15 (see update below for 11 May 2011).
Today's announcement means it won't commence until
at least 2015. However, it is disappointing that
the Minister has not at least chosen to press
ahead with the Dungiven Bypass element of the
scheme. Dungiven is the only town not bypassed on
the entire A6, and all the traffic pollutes the
village. However, it should be said in the
Minister's defense that the scheme has not yet had
its public inquiry, and this means even the
Dungiven Bypass could not commence for at least a
couple of years, even if it was decided to go
ahead with it separately. The money that is
available needs to be spent sooner than that
timescale would allow. 8 Jan 2012: Roads
Service will be holding the next round of public
exhibitions into this scheme this month. As
always, I would urge anyone with an interest in
the scheme to turn up as this is a vital part of
the process, and an opportunity to express your
views. According to this
press release, issued just before Christmas,
the exhibition dates are:
The deadline for comments and objections is 2
March 2012. 17 Dec 2011: The draft legal orders for this scheme were published on 14th December. These include the Environmental Statement (sets out what impact the scheme will have on society and the environment and is required by law). It also includes the draft legal order (required to build a new trunk road) and the vesting orders, part 1 and part 2 (which define whose land they will be buying to build the road) and some other documents. The Environmental Statement includes revised plans for the junction, which are interesting in that two junctions have been dropped entirely - which is excellent news as they merely provided superfluous links across to the existing A6 which will remain in place as a perfectly adequate route (presumably with a 60mph speed limit) for accessing all the properties along that stretch. The changes made since we were last given junction designs in May 2009 are as follows:
4 Jul 2011: The Minister has confirmed that the draft legal documents required to build the road will be published "later this year", and that the Public Inquiry will likely be held in Spring 2012, slightly later than expected in April. This does not imply that the road will go ahead any earlier than previously stated, merely that Roads Service want to press ahead with the process so that, subject to the Inquiry, construction of the road can go ahead once finance is available. 14 May 2011: Speaking at the Annual Dinner of the Chartered Institution of Highway Enginners Northern Ireland, the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Regional Development Malcolm McKibbin said "development work is proceeding on the A6 schemes and late changes to the draft budget mean that we should also be able to start construction in the last year of the budget period" (quoted in Plant & Civil Engineer, May 2011). There are two "A6 schemes" - this one, and the scheme to dual the A6 from Randalstown to Castledawson. The Minister's comments last month about Dungiven (see previous update) suggest that Mr McKibbin may be referring specifically to this scheme when he says that construction should be able to start, but it's possible he means both. Previously both schemes were delayed until at least 2015. The "last year of the budget period" is the financial year running from April 2014 to April 2015. 27 Apr 2011: The Minister has confirmed in a Written Answer that development work will proceed on this scheme over the next few years, despite there not being enough money to build it. In particular, he suggests that the draft legal documents required to build the road will be released in late 2011, and that the Public Inquiry is likely to take place in "late 2011/early 2012" - somewhat later than was anticipated last Autumn. He also implies again that the 2.5km Dungiven Bypass may be built ahead of the main scheme. The cost is now being given as "£350m-£390m", slightly higher than the figure of "£320-£390m" being quoted in late 2009. 7 Mar 2011: Roads Service have come into some new money, to the tune of £107m, and this press release suggests that some of it may be put towards the A6. The Minister does not say which of the two A6 schemes it refers to (Randalstown to Castledawson or Derry to Dungiven), but his comment that "the Dungiven Bypass will be the priority" suggests it is this scheme. The money is nowhere near enough to complete this entire scheme, so it is possible that the 2.5km Dungiven Bypass section may proceed before the rest of the scheme - but this is not stated, so we don't know. Dungiven is singled out because it is now the only town on the entire Belfast to Derry route that is not bypassed. 14 Jan 2011: Roads Service have revealed their budget for 2011-2015 and, due to lack of money, this scheme has now been put on hold, seemingly until at least 2015. The only note is that funding will be available to "continue development" of the project, but not actually build it. In the reduced funding climate all available monies are being funnelled into the A5 and A8 schemes. 19 Oct 2010: In a Written Answer in the Assembly, the Minister has said that the legal documents that are required (see update below on 16 Feb) will be published in early 2011, which represents a bit of slippage on the dates given earlier this year. The estimated date of the Public Inquiry is now being given as "summer 2011". Assuming the public inquiry passes the scheme, and subject to the availability of finance, the Minister is saying that work should begin in 2013. Due to the inevitable budget cuts in the coming months, the Minister for Finance has asked all other Ministers to suggest how their budgets could be cut. However the Minister for Regional Development is currently reluctant to suggest places were cuts could be made in his department, which makes it impossible to assess whether or not the 2013 date is realistic. Hopefully the situation will become clearer in the near future once firm decisions have been made. A number of "Health Impact Assessment" workshops were held in late September, and details can be found on the Roads Service web site. It's not immediately clear from the material on the web site what material impact this will have on the scheme. 18 Aug 2010: In a briefing to Derry City Council in July, Roads Service have said that work on this scheme is still expected to begin in "early 2013". However, we should not rely too much on this since the important budget decisions due to be taken in the coming months are likely to impact on roads. 16 Feb 2010: According to the Minister in the Assembly on 8 Feb 2010, design work is continuing and Roads Service hope to publish the draft Direction Order (basically the legal document giving permission to build a new main road) and the draft Vesting Order (the legal document needed to buy the land to build the road) "before the end of of 2010". The cost was re-stated, and has not changed, at £320m-£390m. 18 Jan 2010: The terminus of the new road at the Derry end will require changes to the A2 Clooney Road, mainly involving improving the alignment and standard, and removing one roundabout. A public exhibition of what is proposed will take place at The North West Teachers Centre, 24 Temple Road, Strathfoyle on Tuesday 19th January 5pm-9pm and Wednesday 20th January 1pm-9pm. I would encourage all those with an interest in the scheme to turn up as this is one of the main ways that the public can engage with the planners. 7 Jan 2010: According to a Written Answer in the Assembly in late December 2009, the current estimate of the cost of this scheme has risen to "£320m to £390m" which is a further increase on the "£320m" estimated in December 2008. 6 May 2009: The Minister announced the preferred route today. The new road will be built to dual-two lane standard, with 1 metre hard strips and no central reserve crossings. Starting at a new roundabout east of Dungiven, it will bypass Dungiven to the south before following an offline route for the first 10km. It will then join the existing A6 where it will be an online upgrade past Claudy until close to Drumahoe. It then heads cross country again to the north to join the existing A2 road at a new roundabout at Gransha. This is quite far north, so we could expect a large percentage of motorists will elect to leave the road at Drumahoe and use the existing A6 past Altnagelvin rather than go all the way up to Gransha. All seven intermediate junctions will be grade separated - six with a "compact" design and one (Drumahoe) with a larger layout. There may also be a westbound left-in/left-out junction at Burntollet, but the Road Service map is not clear enough to determine if this is true. I have put an approximate version of the route onto a Google Maps overlay, seen by clicking here. The press are reporting that construction will start in 2012 and last until 2016, but this is not stated in the Roads Service material. The official position late last year was construction commencing in 2013 subject to the availability of funding. 27 April 2009: Roads Service have said that the preferred route will be announced in early May, and details will be on display to the public at the following locations and dates:
All those with an interest in the scheme should be urged to turn up, as this is one of the key meetings to have your questions answered and raise any concerns. Representatives from Roads Service and the design company will be there. 16 Dec 2008: According to a Stormont Assembly written answer last week, the estimated cost of the scheme has now risen to £320m. It confirms that the preferred route is due to be announced in the Spring of 2009 and again tentatively suggests commencement may be around 2012/13. 10 Dec 2008: Roads Service published a 4-page leaflet on the scheme last month. It does not contain any new information, but confirms the timescale previously announced and provides a useful summary of the scheme. 21 Oct 2008: According to an Assembly written answer from 17 October, the scheme is still on schedule for commencement "during the 2012/13 financial year". The answer also states that the Dungiven Bypass portion of the scheme will take about 18 months to complete. There have been hints that this part of the scheme may progress early on in the scheme to ensure that it is open as soon as possible. 15 Jun 2008: According to this press release, the cost of the project has risen to £300m (up from £250m estimated in 2005). It also revealed that the preferred route is due to be announced in the summer of 2009 and that "over 100 people" are involved in the route development in one form or another. The press release has also said that Roads Service are now investigating how to provide a link from the A6 at Drumahoe to the A5 on the south side of the city. Such a link would almost certainly follow a new offline route. It is unclear if this link would be part of this scheme, or be a separate project. 24 May 2008: Roads Service are holding a series of public exhibitions between 20 and 28 May. They are using these to reveal the five chosen route corridors. Interestingly, some of these stray OUTSIDE the route corridor announced last year and thus there is now an "expanded" route corridor. At the Derry end it now looks almost certain that the road will tie in to the existing A2 between Caw and Maydown rather than the Crescent Link itself. At the Dungiven end two new routes for the bypass of the town are being considered, after complaints about the current route that will sever a GAA training ground. One of these passes further to the south, beyond the river, while the other passes to the north of the town. All the documents made available on the days are also online here, including more detailed versions of the above maps. 28 Apr 2008: The publication in April 2008 of the "Investment Delivery Plan for Roads" document has allayed fears that the scheme will be delayed, since it includes this scheme in the "Preparation pool" which contains schemes anticipated to begin within 5 years, ie by 2013. 8 Mar 2008: According to Roads Service, ground surveys on the chosen route corridor are underway. This will inform the decision on a preferred route within this corridor. Roads Service still have the scheme in their "preparation pool" (construction anticipated within 5 years or so) but with the recent announcements by Conor Murphy (see previous updates) it's still unclear what the timescale is. 5 Feb 2008: Conor Murphy has again denied that there is any slippage in the timetable for the project. He said that "it is not correct to state that there has been slippage on the A6 Derry to Dungiven project. Indeed in July 2007 I announced the appointment of consultants to examine options to enable the selection of a preferred route by spring 2009". There is no doubt that this is true, but it only refers to the first element of the project. The "slippage" being noted is in the timescale for completion of the project as a whole. When first announced,Roads Service were saying that the scheme would be delivered within the timetable of the Regional Strategic Transport Plan which ran from 2005-2015. Now, they are saying that it's going to be delivered within the timetable of the Investment Strategy 2008-2018. While it's only a time period, it still has the potential to delay the project by up to three years. 30 Dec 2007: Conor Murphy responded to the media reports last week by assuring business leaders that the scheme has NOT been cancelled and will proceed. However, while reassuring, his statement does seem to be a disguised attempt to sneak a revised timescale through. When the scheme was first announced in 2005, it was stated that it would be built within the timescale of the Regional Strategic Transportation Network Transport Plan 2015, ie by 2015. However in this week's statement, Conor Murphy now says that it will be built within the timescale of the draft Investment Strategy 2008-2018, ie by 2018. This subtle change means that the project could potentially be delayed by up to three years. This would seem inevitable give the level of financial committment required for the A5 dualling scheme. 24 Dec 2007: As has been noted by the media, this scheme is mysteriously missing from the Draft Investment Strategy 2008-2018 which was published in October. This Strategy (admittedly a draft) outlines the targets of spending of £3bn on roads over the next ten years. Under its list of "key milestones" it lists the A4 dualling scheme (Dungannon to Ballygawley), completion of the A1 dualling, completion of the M1, M2 and Westlink upgrades, the recently announced A5 dualling scheme (Londonderry to Aughnacloy) and the A8 dualling scheme (to Larne). However there is no mention of the A6 dualling scheme. According to Derry Chamber of Commerce, the DRD has said that the A6 scheme may be put on hold or delayed. This is speculation, but it is worth noting that the shortfall required in order to undertake the A5 dualling scheme is £260m. This is almost the same amount as the cost of this scheme. So it is possible that the Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy has decided to take the money from this scheme and use it to fund the A5 scheme instead. If so, and it is only guesswork, then it is likely to prompt a lot of debate on the subject. Background to Scheme The Regional Strategic Transport Plan, published in 2004, explained why it was thought that further dualling of the 40km of the A6 beyond Castledawson could not go ahead before 2015:
This lack of funding was rectified suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly in December 2005 by the announcement of sufficient funding for the Dungiven to Derry section. Prophetically, the RSTN did comment that "It is... likely that future dualling in the 2015 to 2025 period will commence at the Londonderry end of the route." This is because traffic levels are highest at the Toome and Derry ends of the A6, and lowest at the Glenshane Pass and because of the difficult terrain crossing the Sperrins. Traffic figures collected in 2004 showed the following daily traffic at various points on the A6:
Thanks to Diarmaid Elder for the traffic information on this page. Photos
A typical view of the A6 road in its current form, here seen near Dungiven. [Photo by Wesley Johnston]
Dungiven town centre is the biggest bottleneck on the route, and will get a bypass. [Photo by Wesley Johnston] Lots more photos of the road are available on the Roads Service web site - see link at the top of this page. |
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