Status
|
Construction
scheme (proposed) |
Where
|
To
construct a new road bridge across the
River Bann in Portadown south of the
town centre. |
Total
Length
|
0.9 km / 0.5 miles
|
Dates
|
2004 - Road protection
corridor included in Craigavon Area Plan
2010
No plans to proceed as
of 2014
|
Cost
|
£unknown
|
Map
|
See below. |
See
Also
|
General
area map - Google Maps
|
This scheme exists
purely as a "land protection corridor" in the Craigavon
Area Plan 2010, which was adopted in 2004.
It preserves a corridor for the provision of a
new road bridge across the River Bann close to
Portadown town centre. The Area Plan has two
separate land protection corridors, which
presumably refers to two options, rather than
two distinct roads. However one of these passes
directly through the Meadows Shopping Centre, so
is hardly a serious proposition. The route of
the other one begins on the west bank at Meadow
Lane, just south of the Meadows Centre, and
extends to the A50 Gilford Road at its junction
with the Killycomain Road. The routes is shown
on this map in red:
The route shown passes through some developed
property at the Gilford Road end, so it's not
clear how the existence of this road
protection corridor impacts on property
developments in this area. Note that this
scheme does not date back to the late 1960s
plans for the New City as it does not appear
on the key blueprint maps from that period.
The rationale of the scheme is likely to
provide a route across the river without
having to drive along the main street. While
this is very unlikely to be built in the
foreseeable future (at the time of writing in
2014) you can see how future generations might
find such a route useful - eg, it might prove
necessary if it was ever decided to
pedestrianise the town centre. Therefore
keeping it as a land protection corridor makes
sense to keep the option open for future
generations. As the plan puts it, this scheme
is "...not yet programmed for
implementation, however, the Department
considers that [its route] should be
protected in the interests of longer term
strategic planning". A "land protection
corridor" makes sure that the planning
authorities do not give planning permission
for anything that would prevent the road being
built at a future date.
.
.
|