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| A6 Dualling - 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. It is not clear what will happen to the Toome Bypass itself which features two roundabouts, two right-turn T-junctions and three local road accesses with left turns only. The only certainty is that the Hillhead Road junction with the Toome Bypass to the west of Toome will be stopped up - traffic will use a new parallel access road to join the A6 at The Creagh instead. The cost of this scheme was publicised in 2005 as £34m. However, in this consultation document, released in July 2006, the cost had more than doubled to £70m. This may reflect a move towards a fully grade-separated design, or it may reflect a more detailed cost appraisal. 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. The road is of a "high quality" except for the existing Toome Bypass, which is highlighted in yellow.
Progress 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]