Now that both the M1/Westlink and M2 upgrades are completed, the last remaining at-grade junction on the Belfast motorway network is the York Street junction where the M2 meets the M3 and A12 Westlink. Freeflow links already exist between the M2 and M3, but traffic wishing to go between the M2 and A12 and the M3 and A12 must use the traffic light junction at York Street. The upgrades to these three roads have served to highlight this as the final missing link in the jigsaw with queues regularly stretching beyond Fortwilliam and Grosvenor Road on a typical working day.

These are the three busiest roads in Northern Ireland (although, contrary to popular impression, the Westlink is actually the least busy of the three with the M2 being the busiest). This junction is therefore the busiest junction in Northern Ireland, catering for around 100,000 vehicles per day, yet it currently relies on a series of traffic signals. This is obviously not a good situation.

Roads Service are currently (Jun 2011) exploring four different options to link the three roads together. Two of these are fully freeflow, and two require traffic lights on at one of the links (see table below). The various options will have improtant implications for the local road network, especially access to and from the city centre, to and from the Port of Belfast and in some cases access to and from Clifton Street. The current plans and maps are outlined in a leaflet published in June 2011, accessible here. The table below outlines the key points of the four options under consideration:

Historical Background

When the public inquiry that led to the construction of the Westlink was concluded in the late 1970s, it was decided to construct the Westlink to York Street, and to later build the M3 but that the junction between the two would be at ground level with traffic lights. The adjacent railway viaduct seemed to rule out an easy grade separation, but Roads Service have since changed their view and decided to explore such a scheme. The scheme was therefore officially proposed in the document "Expanding the Strategic Road Improvement Programme" released for consultation in July 2006. This document envisaged an extra £400m for roads in the period to 2015. The plans are very reminiscent of the original 1960s plans for a 3-way motorway junction here (see below).

Progress

5 June 2011: Roads Service and designers Scott Wilson held their exhibition last week which included four excellent 3D animations of the new junction which I hope appear online at some point. You can see some stills on the BBC web site. They gave out leaflets (downloadable here) and questionnaires and spoke to members of the public and presented four options which I have summarised in a table above. Only options B and C are fully freeflow. Options B and D feature a bridge over the existing M2, which would be a significant structure at 18 metres above ground level, but not entirely out of keeping with the area. It was pointed out at the consultation that the flyovers allow gentler curves and more coinsistent speeds than the underpass option. The underpass is less visually intrusive, but more challenging as it has to go between the pillars of the M3 and Dargan Railway Bridges which were not designed with this in mind. Since this upgrade will almost certainly be the last major project to be carried out on this junction for several decades, it would seem very shortsighted indeed to go anything short of a fully freeflow design – ie options B and C are the only viable options in my view. In terms of timescale, no money has yet been allocated so there is no construction date other than the more general "by 2018" that was quoted in 2008.

14 May 2011: Roads Service will be holding a Public Exhibition of their current proposals on 1 and 2 June 2011, in the Ramada Encore Hotel, St Anne's Square, Belfast. On the 1st the event will run from 2pm to 9pm, and on the 2nd it will run from 10am to 9pm. Full details here. The event will be detailing the current route options, which are probably going to be refined versions of those in the 2009 Preliminary Options Report (see previous update). I would urge all those with an interest in the scheme to turn up as this is a pivotal junction, the meeting points of the three busiest roads in Northern Ireland.

12 Mar 2010: This update is purely to draw your attention to the fact that the Preliminary Options Report of March 2009 is available online here (links on right of the page). It goes into incredible detail with maps of everything from the gas mains to traffic signal wiring. It also shows 3D computer generated diagams of the route options (Figures in Section 4). Four of the six options considered have been brought forward for further consideration. I have added links to maps of these four options to the text above - just click the thumbnail images.

6 July 2009: In one of these written answers in the Assembly from mid June, the Minister publicly re-confirmed Roads Service's intention to proceed with the scheme, and also accepted what they and everyone else already knew which is that "the completion of the M2 Improvements and the M1/Westlink Schemes has resulted in traffic now being delivered much more quickly to the Nelson Street off slip and York Street junction" and that "this has resulted in increased pressure on this part of the road network". The need for this final part of the jigsaw is now self-evident to motorists. Finally, they confirmed that the work which began in June at the York Street end of the Westlink is an "interim measure" and involves "widening the M2 bound carriageway of the Westlink, to provide a dedicated left turn lane to York Street, and extending the length of the existing M3 bound lane."

16 May 2009: According to the minutes of a Roads Service board meeting at the end of March 2009, the Preliminary Options report has now been completed (although not published publicly). The board has now granted "gateway 0" approval. In laymans language, this means that the scheme has been approved, in principle, and they will now proceed to develop more detailed options. Also, an Order comes into force on 22 June 2009 which will result in Henry Street being stopped up at York Street. This is a residential street that currently joins York Street at a T-junction between the Cityside Shopping Centre and the Westlink (with barriers to prevent its use as a rat run). It may be completely unrelated, but it is worth noting that stopping up this junction will make the design of the new York Street interchange much easier.

11 Apr 2009: Speaking to a member of Roads Service, it seems that Roads Service are currently considering a number of possible options for the design of this junction, and that the model pictured above is of just one of these. The options being considered include layouts going over the top of the M3 flyover, and ones that involve going below ground level. Some kind of announcement is likely within the next year or so. It is likely that public pressure will encourage this scheme, since the completion of the Westlink and M2 schemes are likely to result in increased congestion at this junction from 2009 and onwards. Construction is currently timetabled for the period 2014-2018.

9 May 2008: At last, the scheme has been given the go-ahead. The document "Investment Delivery Plan For Roads", published in April 2008, includes the plan in the "forward planning schedule" for schemes where permission has been granted to proceed with design and consultation work. Construction is timetabled for the period between 2013 and 2018, but this is an approximate period.

26 Mar 2008: No announcement was made last May as indicated. However, the scheme is very much on the cards. Two developments suggest this is the case:

1. An area of land to the east of Nelson Street (beside the former "Clarendon Square" development) was fenced off in the past year and has apparently been purchased with this scheme in mind - for the M2->Westlink sliproad.
2. On 28 November 2007 the Regional Development Minister committed to the scheme, although referring to it as a "longer term" proposal. Nevertheless, he announced that a consultancy firm would be appointed "in the next few weeks" and that they "expect that this proposal will cost around £50 million".

Further calls were made in March 2008 by the IEC-CBI Joint Business Council for this scheme to proceed. They argue that "It is crucial to ensure that an efficient freight and logistics system is in place on both sides of the border, in time and with sufficient capacity to encourage rather than to constrain expected economic growth."

Mar 2007: It is thought that the Roads Service are actively pursuing this scheme and currently it seems as if some kind of announcement will be made in May 2007 giving more details about what is proposed. Construction dates are unknown, but traffic congestion will likely make it a priority. I would be surprised if the completed junction was not in place by 2015 at the latest.

Photos

Google Earth image dating from the mid 2000s showing the area in question. The M2 is to the top right, the M3 to the bottom right and the A12 Westlink to the left. York Street runs diagonally from top centre to bottom left. The city centre is below the image and the Port of Belfast is to beyond the top right of the picture. [Picture from Google Earth]

Historical Image

The proposed scheme is reminiscent of this three-way freeflow junction proposed for the same site back in 1967 which would have connected the M2 to the two arms of the Belfast Urban Motorway (constructed as A12 Westlink and M3). Full size image. See link at top of page for more details.