The A8 is the principal route from Belfast to the major sea port of Larne, where a large percentage of Northern Ireland's freight (and a smaller percentage of Republic of Ireland freight) enters arrives and departs. The A8 runs from the M2 at Glengormley to Larne and also forms part of European Route E01. Approximately a third of the route is already dualled, consisting of a stretch at the south end and a stretch at the Larne end. Although the remaining road is straight and well built, the presence of large numbers of HGVs on the route means that the average speed is lower than for other similar roads. As of 2008 the average traffic level was 18,000 vehicles per day, close to the upper limit for a single-carriageway road. This project, which is being supported by the Irish Republic, will see the remainder of the road dualled to a high standard. The map below shows the approximate route proposed in red, with new grade separated junctions marked by blue dots and roundabouts by red dots. For a more detailed map, see here.

Route and Standard

The road will be built as a "Category 6" dual-carriageway. This is the highest standard for an all purpose road, and is one step down from a motorway. It means that the road will have two lanes in each directon, no breaks in the central reservation and all junctions either grade separated, limited to left-turns only or be in the form of roundabouts. The road will have 1 metre hard strips on each side.

For a detailed PDF map of the route, as announced in August 2009, click here. The route is essentially an online upgrade of the existing road, with two exceptions:

• Starting at the existing Coleman's Corner roundabout (Hillhead Road turnoff) the new road runs online as far as Ballynure, except for a short detour round the east side of Bruslee hamlet.
• On this stretch there are a pair of Left-in/Left-out junctions at Lisglass Road; a compact grade separated junction to serve Calhame Road/Green Road/Legaloy Road.
• At Ballynure the road diverges offline to the west before the current A57 roundabout. A grade separated junction here serves the A57 and the south side of Ballynure.
• Continuing round the west of Ballynure, in the Six Mile Water valley, the road rejoins the line of the current A8 north of Ballynure at Ballybracken Road where there is another grade separated junction.
• The road then continues online all the way to the A36 Shanes Hill Road junction (townland of Ballyedward), where there will be a new at-grade roundabout. Along this stretch there will be compact grade separated junctions at Moss Road and Deerpark Road/Park Road.

The picture below was put on the Roads Service web site (here) in August 2009 and shows how the new road may look. The visual anticipates quite heavy traffic.

Historical Background

Larne Council have been campaigning for the route to be dualled but until 2006 Roads Service had no plans to proceed in the following 10 years. However, during the optimistic political developments of April 2007 the Irish government offered a "peace dividend" to build infrastructure in Northern Ireland. The two schemes to benefit were the dualling of the A5 from Londonderry to the Irish border at Aughnacloy, and this scheme to dual the A8.

Between 1999 and 2000 a detailed study was carried out on the A8 with a view to improving the route. This resulted in the construction of a short stretch of dual-carriageway between Houston's Corner and Coleman's Corner (at the south end of this project), a roundabout with climbing lanes at the south side of Ballynure, the Ballynure Southern Link Road. Funding at the time was limited, so a full dualling scheme did not take place. Plans to widen the rest of the A8 to dual-carriageway standard had however been on the cards for some time and in fact a road protection corridor exists for the entire route.

However, in the eight years since then the funding level has increased dramatically. This means that the current planners are no longer limited by the route protection corridor. They are now able to examine other options, including partly or fully offline routes for a new road, and more ambitious junction improvements, including grade separation (ie flyovers). The public consultation held in May 2008 informed the public of this newfound freedom and prepared landowners on the route for some of the options that may be proposed as the scheme develops.

The Ballynure Southern Link Road (a bit like the south-eastern quarter of an imaginary ring round Ballynure) opened in 2005, prior to the decision to upgrade the whole A8. At the time there was a suggestion that it could one day be upgraded to dual-carriageway and form part of a new eastern bypass around Ballynure. However the consultants have now said (as of November 2008) that this will not happen as the alignment of the road is not good enough for the proposed Category 6 dual-carriageway.

Progress

12 Nov 2011: Roads Service apparently now have the Inspector's Report on June's Public Inquiry, but are not planning to release it until March/April time next year when it will be released along with various other documents, such as the Vesting Order.
All the media attention of the past week has been on the implications of Wednesday's withdrawal of Dublin's promised £400m on the A5. However, they seem to be forgetting that the money was also to part-fund this scheme on the A8. For simplicity, on paper all the £400m was to have been paid to the A5, but this was purely for bureaucratic expediancy. The A8 scheme is being progressed by Roads Service on the assumption that this £400m was coming. So the announcement throws up lots of question marks about this scheme. There are two things that work in the scheme's favour. Firstly, the DRD needs to spend the spare cash quickly, and the A8 is one of only three schemes that have already had their public inquiries and hence could proceed soon (the other two being A6 Randalstown-Castledawson and A2 Greenisland; ignoring the A5). Secondly, at £113m the scheme is considerably cheaper than the A5 and still quite affordable by Stormont alone. By contrast, I think it's improbably that Roads Service would regard this as the most eligible scheme if everything was on a level playing field. The future of the A8 scheme is thus wide open at this point.

4 Jul 2011: The Public Inquiry opened on 15th June and concluded on 23rd June. We now have to wait to see what the Inspector's recommendation will be. It is likely to take a few months to compile the report, which I speculate we could expect in the Autumn.

14 May 2011: Roads Service have announced that the Public Inquiry into this scheme will begin at 10am on 15th June 2011, in Corr's Corner Hotel. This is slightly earlier than was anticipated last May. They have also released an addendum to the Environmental Statement. Basically this is needed because the designers have tweaked the design a bit, so that (for example) in some places the road is lower than originally planned, and in others higher. This means that some of the noise calculations, etc, needed to be re-done. As always, I would urge all those with an interest in this proposed scheme to turn up to the Inquiry as this is the key event for expressing concerns.

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 and (b) the Irish government contribution carries a high risk of withdrawal. Meanwhile, work is proceeding on this scheme with a public exhibition of the latest proposals scheduled for 25 and 26 January. It will be held in Corr's Corner Hotel, Newtownabbey from 2pm to 9pm. As always, I strongly encourage all those with an interest in the scheme to turn up as this is a key event for getting your views across. This will coincide with the publication of the draft Environmental Statement (setting out the impacts of the scheme) and three draft Notices (setting out changes to private accesses onto the A8, listing land that will be purchased for the scheme and a notice that provides the legal basis to construct a new trunk road).

23 May 2010: Roads Service have now completed the 'high level review' into the route of the scheme at Ballynure (see update on 14 Dec 2009). They have decided that their original plan (western bypass of the town) is still the best option. They studied several variations of the original online dualling option through Ballynure to see if any of them performed better than the option that was rejected. However, they did not. In fact, they were worse: "none of the alternative online dualling options through Ballynure performed as well as the original option assessed at Stage 1 (at-grade solution with a signalised junction and 40mph speed restriction)" [source]. The full report can be read here. They also concluded that an online dual-carriageway would create a major visual barrier through the village, would require the closure of further road accesses onto the A8 and require the demolition of "a significant number of buildings". In addition, the presence of the Ballynure Water meant that any bridge would have to be around seven metres above ground level, which would visually be a significant sructure in the centre of the village. Roads Service therefore plan to press ahead with the western bypass option. According to a written answer in the Assembly, there will be another public exhibition (the "emerging specimin design exhibition") in August or September 2010. The Public Inquiry is still scheduled for late 2011.

22 Feb 2010: Roads Service awarded the £113m contract for this scheme to the Lagan/Ferrovial/Costain consortium on 26 January 2010. The contactor will initially work on the design and legal process around the new road, before hopefully following that up with the actual construction. Roads Service estimate that about 200 jobs will be created for the duration of the construction phase. Roads Service have also said that the next round of public consultations - when they plan to reveal the detailed design of the road and its junctions - will be in "mid to late 2010", while the formal public consultations will take place in "early to mid 2011" following the publication of the necessary legal documents.

23 Jan 2010: Roads Service intend to proceed to appoint a contractor for this scheme. Letters stating their "intention to award" were sent out two weeks ago, according to their web site. The stage 3 assessment is now underway - this means they will refine the preferred route that was announced in August, producing actual designs for the various junctions and perhaps tweaking the exact route.

14 Dec 2009: There has been much debate and publicity in recent weeks about the choice of route of the A8 at Ballynure. The eight local farmers who are affected by the proposed bypass to the west of the village along with local politicians, most notably from the UUP, have argued that the bypass uses an unacceptable amount of good agricultural land. They contend that it should be possible to route a grade separated dual-carriageway along the existing route through the middle of the village, despite the fact that this is likely to be more challenging. They argue that this would not increase sevarance, since the road is already there. A week ago Danny Kinahan of the UUP said that he had secured a committment to a 'high level review' of the A8 plans by Roads Service. There have been no independent public statements from Roads Service on the issue.

2 Nov 2009: Roads Service have said that the draft vesting order should be published in early to mid 2011. They have also clarified that four properties will have to be vested, and that these consist of "a private dwelling, a building site, a derelict building and an agricultural barn" and that the cost of these is expected "to be in the region of £550,000". Meanwhile, Roads Service have said that land to be vested will impact on 99 landowners, at at total cost which is "in the region of £8 million".

10 August 2009: The preferred route was announced last Monday. Details and maps are available on the Roads Service web site here. The public exhibition last week was apparently a great success, with almost 800 people turning up to view the proposals. The cost is now being given as £113m, within the limits predicted last May (£105m-120m). The route chosen is largely an online upgrade of the existing road, but the designers appear to have done this without compromising safety. All junctions are either compact grade-separated junctions or left-turns only. There is one at-grade roundabout at the northern terminus of the scheme. For details of the route, see the section entitled "Route" above. However, it is worth noting that the decision has been made to bypass Ballynure to the west, principally because a bypass to the east would encourage HGVs heading from Larne to the West along the A57 to continue to go through the village. The hamlet of Bruslee will also remain intact, since the decision has been made to bypass it to the east.

27 July 2009: The Minister for Regional Development will announce preferred route for the dual-carriageway on 5 August 2009. This will be followed by a two day public exhibition at which members of the public will be able to view the developments. The exhibition will be held at Corr's Corner Hotel, Newtownabbey (on the A8) on Wed 5 August and Thu 6 August from 2pm to 9pm. I would strongly encourage all those with an interest in the scheme to turn up as this is one of your main opportunities to get your views across and ask questions.

12 July 2009: According to Roads Service, the preferred route for the scheme is due to be announced in "early August" 2009. This will then be followed a public exhibition where those with an interest in the scheme can turn up and express their views.

13 May 2009: According to the Deputy First Minister the cost of this scheme has now been more accurately estimated as between £105m and £120m. He also said that they have been assured that the Irish government's committment to financially support this and the A5 scheme remains secure. According to the Regional Development Minister, the preferred route is to be announced in mid-summer 2009. The procurement process is also due to commence shortly.

23 May 2008: Roads Service held a preliminary public exhibition about the scheme on 20 and 21 May 2008. The aim of this was to inform landowners and other interested parties about the scope of the project and to keep them informed as to the process that would be followed. It was revealed that the next milestone will be the announcement of the preferred route in Summer 2009. They also said that scheme delivery would be between 2013 and 2018, rather than simply "2013" as stated in the document "Investment Delivery Plan for Roads". Finally, the scheme now has an official web page, although at the minute it does not seem to be linked from anywhere on the Roads Service web site!

28 Apr 2008: According to the "Investment Delivery Plan for Roads" document released in April 2008, this scheme has now been placed into the "Preparation pool" for schemes likely to proceed within 5 years, ie by 2013.

14 Sep 2007: At the fifth plenary meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in July the Northern Ireland Executive "confirmed its acceptance, in principle, to taking forward these two major road projects." and stated that "The road project from Belfast to Larne will be taken forward by the Northern Ireland Executive and its agencies." No timeline has been stated, but it is likely that the scheme will progress within the next ten years.

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. Although the Irish government's contribution is intended to help with both schemes, it has been agreed for simplicity that the money will be applied to the A5 project only.

Photos

Bruslee hamlet straddles the A8. Here seem looking towards Belfast in 2006. If the road protection corridor is used (and it may not) the widening would be on the far side of the road. [Wesley Johnston]

The A8 climbing towards Belfast from Ballynure, seen in 2004. A climbing lane has since been added here. [Wesley Johnston]

The Ballynure Southern Link road opened in 2005 to allow vehicles heading to Carrickfergus from the A8 to bypass the village centre - will it be upgraded as part of this proposed scheme and become part of the A8? [Wesley Johnston]