Phase 1 of the Millennium Way link road, which opened in 2002, allowed it to quickly meet its primary objective - the redevelopment of the lands to the south west of Lurgan town centre. However for it to meet its secondary goal - to take traffic away from the congested town centre, the road really needs to be extended a little further east, to the Gilford Road / Banbridge Road junction which are two of the primary destinations of traffic travelling along the main street. The map below (not to scale) illustrates the proposed extension:

Since the junction of Banbridge Road and Gilford Road is built up, this scheme will involve more vesting of property than phase 1 did. According to this set of oral answers in the Northern Ireland Assembly in October 2007, planning permission has been granted. However, the Minister said:

"Like other measures proposed in ‘Sub-Regional Transport Plan 2015’, implementation of the scheme will be subject to the satisfactory completion of an economic appraisal, successful progression through the statutory procedures and availability of funding through the normal budgetary processes. Therefore, I cannot be more definitive about a commencement date at this time."

We can therefore not expect this scheme to proceed imminently. It is always possible that it will progress sooner than this if a private developer funds it, perhaps as a condition of planning permission for developments in the area.

Updates

10 Feb 2012: There was an adjournment debate in Stormont about this project on Tuesday. An adjournment debate is a debate held by a private member of the Assembly concerning an issue in their constituency, but it's just a debate and can't lead to any decisions. The debate essentially provided an opportunity for various politicians to outline the case for the road, and the Minister responded by saying, again, that he agreed with them but he basically had no money to build it. He also confirmed that the 2006 planning permission was renewed in January 2012. The proposer of the debate, the Upper Bann MLA Stephen Moutray, quoted an interesting letter from 1976 showing that the Direct Rule minister for roads back then had promised that the whole road would be completed by 1981 (see link above)!

15 Jan 2012: In a question for Written Answer in the Assembly last November, the DRD Minister was asked for the current status of this project. He said "the route selection and preliminary design of the Millennium Way scheme in Lurgan has been completed. Planning approval has also been obtained, with a view to advancing the Vesting Order and completing the detailed design". However he went on to hint that he had no money to built it, and that construction was unlikely in the near future.

4 Jul 2011: There was an article about this scheme in the Lurgan Mail last month. A delegation from "Lurgan Forward" met the new "Roads" Minister and urged him to press ahead with Phase 2 of Millennium Way, later describing their meeting as "very positive". The delegation argued, correctly, that the road cannot meet its full potential until it is extended to Gilford Road. However there is no indication in the article whether the Minister intends to alter his current policy, which is that there are no plans at present to proceed with the scheme. Interestingly, the article refers not just to the extension to Gilford Road, but also a westwards extension to William Street (the A76 towards the M1) which has hitherto not been part of this proposal. It is not clear whether this is just speculation, a suggestion or an actual plan.

2 Oct 2008: According to a written answer in the Assembly in September 2008, the Regional Development Minister said that the scheme would be "included among the schemes considered for inclusion" in the programme of works for the next ten years. This doesn't really say anything new, and does not commit to proceeding with the scheme, but does confirm that the proposal is still "live".

9 Jul 2008: According to a written answer in the Assembly in June 2008, the scheme has still not got the go-ahead, but the DRD is exploring developer funding. The minister's full statement was: "...the recently published Investment Delivery Plan for Roads over the next 10 years identifies funds totalling £109 million specifically "…. to complete the Non Strategic Major Improvements incorporating the schemes identified in the Sub-Regional Transport Plan". While I would confirm that the Malcolm Road to Gilford Road extension of Millennium Way will be included among the schemes considered for inclusion in this particular programme of work, there are many competing demands for these substantial, but limited, resources and priorities have still to be determined. For that reason alternative funding options have not been ruled out and at a recent meeting with representatives of Lurgan Forward on 1 May 2008 I suggested that it would be helpful if it explored the possibility of developer contribution to this scheme."