| A6 Dualling - Randalstown (M22) to Castledawson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The A6 is single-carriageway from the end of the M22 at Randalstown, to Derry. The most notorious bottleneck, the village of Toome, received a dual-carriageway bypass in 2004. However the roads on each side are still single-carriageway. The purpose of this scheme is to dual approximately 12km of the A6 from the M22 to the start of the Toome Bypass, and from the end of the Toome Bypass as far as Castledawson. In keeping with recent schemes, the two new stretches of dual-carriageway will be of a high quality with flyover junctions and no breaks in the central reservation. Traffic levels on the route vary from 12,000 vehicles per day at Castledawson to 17,500 per day at the M22 end. The existing Toome Bypass will also be upgraded as part of the scheme. Although it is currently a dual-carriageway, it has two roundabouts and a number of at-grade junctions. As of April 2009, it looks as if the upgrade will involve (a) grade separating the Drumderg roundabout at the east end (b) removing the Roguery Road roundabout, beside the bridge and (c) closing up the T-junction at the Hillhead Road junction near the west end. Traffic for the latter will use a new parallel access road to join the A6 at The Creagh instead. Background to the Scheme The original grand motorway plan of 1964 would have seen the M22 extend from Antrim past Toome and terminating at Castledawson. (Londonderry traffic would have followed the M2 as far as Ballymoney and then taken the proposed M23 to the city). When this scheme got abandoned in 1975, the M22 had not even made it as far as Toome and it left the single-carriageway A6 as the most direct route to Londonderry. It has been in this state for the intervening 30 years with the narrow and twisty section from the M22 to Toome one of the poorest standard trunk roads in Northern Ireland. Strip Junction Map See also route map below. This is a strip map of the "high quality" freeflowing design that was proposed originally, prior to the public inquiry of Nov 2007. Since then the design has been altered, principally to make the existing Toome Bypass fully freeflow as well. The existing Toome Bypass is highlighted in yellow.
Progress 18 November 2009: The DRD officially released their response to the public inquiry on Monday. Not surprisingly, given the general support the scheme received in the inquiry, they have decided to proceed with the scheme. However, they have made a number of minor amendments in response to specific criticism from landowners and other affected parties. You can read about these in the two offical response documents, available here: In terms of major alterations, the Public Inquiry had suggested that both the Drumderg roundabout, on the existing Toome Bypass, and the Castledawson roundabout, at the western end of the scheme, should be grade-separated (ie, flyovers). Roads Service have decided to make this change to the Drumderg roundabout. Although the DRD document makes no mention of the Roguery Road roundabout, also on the Toome Bypass, the update on 26 April 2009 noted that it too may be removed, meaning that the Toome Bypass may become fully freeflow when this scheme is completed. However, they have rejected the recommendation to grade separate the Castledawson roundabout on the grounds that the roundabout acts as an important reminder to motorists that they are leaving a high quality dual-carriageway and joining an ordinary two-lane road with T-junctions. Meanwhile, in a Written Answer in the Assembly, the Minister confirmed that the scheme is still programmed to begin in 2011/12, but this is of course subject to money being available at the time. 26 April 2009: Last August the inspector's report from the public inquiry was published. This made a number of recommendations, outlined below in the update for 26 August 2008. Roads Service is scheduled to make its reponse to this report in Autumn 2009. However, a clue is given on the last page of the minutes of a Roads Service board meeting held in January 2009. These suggest that the recommendations may be as follows:
I asked Roads Service, via the Freedom of Information Act, for more details on the proposals but it emerged that, since the material is due for publication in the Autumn, it was exempt from the FoI Act. We shall therefore have to wait until the Autumn for the full details! 16 Dec 2008: According to a Stormont Assembly written answer from last week, the estimated cost of the scheme has risen considerably from £70m to £100m. The information also suggests that work may be able to commence in 2011 with completion in 2014, subject to passing the normal processes. In November 2008, Roads Service issued a 4 page leaflet that provides a useful summary of the western part of the scheme, and a corresponding leaflet for the eastern portion. However note that the timescales given on page 4 in each case seems to be wrong by the most recent information. There is also no word on the progress of the revisions of the design of the Castledawson and Drumderg roundabouts (see update on 26 August below). The second leaflet also refers to the terminus of the M22 as "junction 3" which, as far as I am aware, is the first time this point has been given a junction number (until now the M22 has had a junction 1 and a junction 2 only). This may suggest that the new grade separated junction here is going to be signed as "junction 3". 26 Aug 2008: On 18 August, the inspector's report from the public inquiry was published. It recommended proceeding with both parts of the scheme with these modifications: (a) that the layout of the new road at Drumderg (eastern end of the Toome Bypass) should be revised (b) that the pair of junctions at Bellshill Road should be built as a full junction with bridge (c) that the proposed nearby bridge to carry Annaghmore Road over the A6 should therefore be abandoned and (d) that the design of the Castledawson roundabout should be revised, perhaps because this is now also the terminus of the proposed Magherafelt Bypass (see link at top of page). This document gives more details of the proposed changes. The commencement date is now being given as "2011". 28 Apr 2008: The Investment Delivery Strategy for Roads strategy document of April 2008 contains the surprise news that commencement on this scheme, which had been due in "late 2008" has now been pushed back considerably to 2010/11 with completion now not due until 2012/13. This is despite the fact that the public inquiries were held in November. The likely reason is that the promotion of the expensive A5 and A6 schemes has meant that other schemes, like this one, have been delayed. 22 Mar 2008: Public enquiries were held for both halves of this scheme in November, but as yet no report has been published. In the meantime, anyone interested in the scheme should be able to spend a few hours reading through the vast amount of material that Roads Service have made available on their web site (see link at top of this page) relating to the development of the scheme. 8 Oct 2007: According to this press release from September, a public inquiry is now to be held into the scheme. It will take place in November 2007. It is possible that this will push back the start date of this scheme. 19 Apr 2007: According to this page, construction has been pushed back to "late 2008" from the previously advertised "early 2007". Route Map Roads Service now have detailed maps on their web site showing the junctions between the M22 and Toome and between Toome and Castledawson. The more general map below was released to the press by the Roads Service in September 2005. It shows the western part of the scheme at the top, and the eastern portion at the bottom. The recently completed Toome Bypass has been added in black. Individual junctions are not shown. |
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Photos
One of the best quality roads on the route, the M22 becomes one of the worst here, where the M22 becomes the A6 to Toome. The new road will continue straight ahead here instead of curving right (see map above). [Picture by Wesley Johnston]
At the other end, the A6 seen here arrives at the Toome Bypass (to left of shot). [Picture by Wesley Johnston]