A50 Gilford Town Centre Relief Road

 

Status
Construction scheme (proposed)
Where
To facilitate a one-way system on Gilford's main street (Mill Street) and access to new developments.
Total Length
200 metres / 210 yards
Dates

Included in draft "Banbridge, Newry and Mourne Area Plan 2015" - Aug 2006
Included in adopted "Banbridge, Newry and Mourne Area Plan 2015" - Oct 2013
No plans to build road - as of Jan 2015

Cost
Unknown - to be funded by private developers
Photos
None currently
See Also

General area map of Gilford
Banbridge, Newry and Mourne Area Plan 2015

Gilford is a small town between Portadown and Banbridge that lies on the A50. All traffic must pass along the main street (Mill Street) which gets congested. The "Banbridge, Newry and Mourne Area Plan 2015" included a small area of land beside the river to be zoned for development, and the planners have added a condition that a bypass of Mill Street must be provided as part of any new developments, in order to prevent even more congestion. The plan has the reference "GD11" in the Area Plan. Hence the road will be funded and built by private developers. However the Area Plan does note that once it has been built it will facilitate "the introduction of a one-way traffic system", presumably clockwise with traffic heading south on Mill Street and north on the new road. As of January 2015 there are no signs of the road being built. The map below shows the proposed route in red. You can see the "official" version of the map here.


The route shown on the map is probably conjectural. It will be up to the developer of the lands in question to decide the most appropriate route, although it will need the agreement of TransportNI. Note also that the provision of the road will require some demolition at the north end as the existing entry is probably not wide enough to pass the road through. Interestingly, the Area Plan also requires the construction of a new footbridge to connect the proposed route across the river to Stranmore Road.

Dozens of minor roads are built each year to service new developments and I don't include those on this site as I try to focus on the "strategic" roads. However, I have included this one because it seems to be linked to the plan to introduce a one-way system on the main A50 in Gilford and is therefore of wider significance.

.

.