This table gives the
opening dates of all motorway sections built in
Northern Ireland. The cost, where known, is given
along with the 2009 equivalent in brackets
(calculated via www.measuringworth.com).
Some adjacent sections that opened on the same
date are listed separately if they were built
under separate contracts.
Road |
Section |
Length |
Cost (2009
equiv) |
Date Opened |
M1 |
Junctions
1 to 2
(Donegall
Rd to Stockman's Lane)
|
2.1km |
£1.9m (£31.1m) |
10 Jul 1962 |
M1 |
Junctions
2 to 6 (Stockman's Lane
to
Lisburn Saintfield Rd)
|
8.8km |
£2.5m (£40.9m) |
10 Jul 1962 |
M1 |
Junctions 6 to 7 (Lisburn Saintfield Road
to Sprucefield) |
2.9km |
£1.5m (£24.2m) |
15 Dec 1963 |
M1 |
Junctions
12 to between j13 & j14
(Birches
to Verner's Corner)
|
7.2km |
£1.8m (£28.0m) |
1 Dec 1964 |
M1 |
Junctions
7 to 9
(Sprucefield
to Moira)
|
10.9km |
£3.4m (£50.1m) |
6 Dec 1965 |
M1 |
Junctions
9 to 10
(Moira
to Lurgan)
|
9.6km |
£3.5m (£49.4m) |
28 Feb 1966 |
M2 |
Junctions 2 to 4
(Greencastle to Sandyknowes) |
5.6km |
£4.1m
estimate
(£57.9m
estimate)
|
24 Oct 1966 |
A8(M) |
Sandyknowes to Corr's Corner |
1.6km |
£2.3m (£32.5m) |
24 Oct 1966 |
M1 |
Junctions
10 to 11
(Lurgan
to Ballynacor)
|
3.2km |
£1.8m
estimate
(£24.7m)
|
27 Nov 1967 |
M12 |
Spur from Ballynacor |
3.7km |
£2.0m (£27.4m) |
27 Nov 1967 |
M1 |
Between
j13 & j14 to junction 15
(Verner's
Corner to Dungannon)
|
6.7km |
£4.9m (£67.2m) |
23 Dec 1967 |
M1 |
Junctions
11 to 12
(Ballynacor
to Birches)
|
8.8km |
£8.3m (£109.0m) |
29 Jan 1968 |
M2 |
Junctions
10 to 12
(Ballymena
bypass)
|
7.2km |
£5.0m (£62.5m) |
26 Apr 1969 |
M2 |
Junction
5 to M22 junction 1
(Templepatrick
to Dunsilly)
|
10.4km |
£4.1m (£43.6m) |
26 Feb 1971 |
M22 |
Junctions
1 to 2
(Dunsilly
to Ballygrooby)
|
4.5km |
£1.9m (£20.2m) |
16 Aug 1971 |
M22 |
Junctions
2 to 3
(Ballygrooby
to Artresnahan)
|
2.2km |
£1.2m (£11.0m) |
30 Jan 1973 |
M2 |
Junctions
1A to 2 (Whitla Street / York Street
to Greencastle)
|
4.0km |
£7.5m (£68.5m) |
22 May 1973 |
M2 |
Junctions
4 to 5
(Sandyknowes
to Templepatrick)
|
9.4km |
£6.2m (£38.8m) |
4 Sep 1975 |
M5 |
M2 junction 2 to Hazelbank |
2.3km |
£4.4m (£13.7m) |
12 Sep 1980 |
M1 |
Junction
3 added
(Black's
Road, east-facing only)
|
1.0km |
£2.3m (£4.4m) |
Dec 1988 |
M12 |
Western
sliproads to M1 at junction 11
(Ballynacor)
|
1.4km |
£1.7m (£2.7m) |
Jan 1991 |
M2 |
Junction
7 added
(Crosskennan,
offslips only)
|
1.4km |
£0.4m (£0.6m) |
1 Oct 1993 |
M3 |
Junctions 1A to 1 (Middlepath Street) |
1.3km |
£26.4m (£37.2m) |
22 Jan 1995 |
M3 |
Junction 1 (Middlepath Street) to Sydenham
Bypass |
1.1km |
£6.2m (£8.0m) |
May 1998 |
M1 |
Junction 8 added (Blaris) and Junction 7
(Sprucefield) west facing sliproads removed
|
1.5km
excl.
A101
|
£8m (£9.2m)
privately funded |
13 Oct 2003 |
M1 |
Widening
to 3 lanes junctions 2 to 3
(Black's
Road to Stockman's Lane)
|
2.1km |
£4.8m (£5.4m) |
10 Aug 2004 |
M1 |
Widening to 3 lanes junctions 1 to 2
(Broadway to Stockman's Lane) |
2.1km |
Part of wider M1
and Westlink upgrade |
29 Nov 2008 |
M2 |
Junction 10 (Larne Road, Ballymena) grade
separated |
0.8km |
£12.1m (n/a) |
15 Aug 2010 |
Source: "
The Northern Ireland Motorway Achievement",
Roads Service and Motorway Archive Trust, 2002,
ISBN: 0-9543056-6-3
Total expenditure on motorways in each four year
period (2009 equivalent):
Period |
Expenditure
(2009 prices)
|
Total
kilometres constructed |
1962 -
1965 |
£174.3m |
31.9km |
1966 - 1969 |
£430.8m |
47.5km |
1970 - 1973 |
£143.3m |
21.1km |
1974 - 1977 |
£38.8m |
9.4km |
1978 - 1981* |
£13.7m |
2.3km |
1982 - 1985* |
£0m |
0km |
1986 - 1989 |
£4.4m |
1.0km |
1990 - 1993 |
£3.3m |
2.8km |
1994 - 1997 |
£37.2m |
1.3km |
1998 - 2001 |
£8.0m |
1.1km |
2002 - 2005 |
£14.6m |
3.6km |
2006 - 2009 |
? ** |
2.1km |
2010 - |
£12.1m |
0.8km |
*These
periods also saw the construction of the
expensive A12 Westlink, not listed here.
**Costs
for the M1 and Westlink upgrade were not broken
down by section of road so it is not possible to
assign a cost to the M1 j1 to j2 upgrade.
|