This plan was introduced in the Regional Strategic Transport Plan of 2005, but little was clear as to exactly what it involved until the Sub-Regional Transport Plan of March 2006 was published. The road will form a roughly semi-circular route from the A3 Portadown Road east of the town round the north and west to the A3 Monaghan Road in the south west. It will not only act as a partial "ring road" for local traffic, but also greatly improve the connection between Monaghan and the Craigavon and Belfast areas.

The route originally proposed in the SRTP of 2006 followed the line of the railway line as far as the A28 Killylea Road. This route would have had a few issues, including the fact that it ran through the urban area of the city, rather than round it, and would have come very close indeed to St Patrick's Catholic Cathedral. Roads Service then looked at further options, including an "out of town" option that was much longer but lay entirely outside the urban area.

In June 2008 Roads Service announced that they had decided on this "out of town" option. The approximate route is shown in this Google Earth screenshot. See the "see also" links at the top of the page for a Roads Service map:

Approximate route of the proposed Armagh North and West Link as of June 2008.

The route as currently proposed will be single-carriageway, although it's not clear if it will include any 2+1 sections to allow safe overtaking. If it follows recent design trends, it will likely feature lots of roundabouts at the points where it meets other roads. The route is as follows:

• Starting on the A3 Portadown Road close to the old railway crossing and heads west;
• Crosses the B77 Loughgall Road;
• Crosses the A29 Moy Road, then turns south;
• Crosses the B115 Cathedral Road;
• Crosses the A28 Killylea Road;
• Terminates on the A3 Monaghan Road.

There is a further plan in the pipeline to build an Armagh East Link (connecting Portadown Road south to Markethill Road, but this is beyond the 2015 date for definite planning to go ahead.

Following recent government policy that private developers should contribute to road schemes that are required due to their developments, it is possible that private developers will be made to foot at least part of the bill for this scheme. (This is achieved by making it a condition for planning permission).

Progress

24 Nov 2008: Roads Service have released a leaflet about this scheme. The leaflet does not really tell us anything new, but it is a good summary of the scheme and confirms that it is still being considered for construction "within five years".

27 Jun 2008: In this press release on 24 June Roads Service announced their preferred route. The route is the "out of town" route, completely different from the route initially proposed in 2005. The original route ran along the route of the railway line and was 3.8km long. This new route runs some distance further out from the city on an entirely new route and is almost double the length at 6.9km. This has resulted in the cost more than doubling to £57m. It's not yet known where the junctions along the route will be located. Roads Service are giving the start of construction as "within five years".

28 Apr 2008: The strategy document "Investment Delivery Strategy for Roads" of April 2008 gives the timescale of this project as 2008-2013, but is not any more specific than this, implying that the date may be towards the 2013 end of the time period.

Nov 2006: In the Roads Service report to Armagh Council on 13 November 2006, Roads Service said that "as a result of public consulation" the area of study has been expanded to consider other route options. This implies public disattisfaction with the route as proposed above.