Status
|
Construction scheme
(future) |
Where
|
To
grade separate a final set of 5
junctions on the A1, build a link road
at Milebush Road Dromore and close up
all central reservation crossing points
between Hillsborough and Loughbrickland
so that right turns are no longer
permitted. |
Total
Length
|
n/a
|
Dates
|
Scheme first proposed
July 2006
Modified scheme given
go-ahead in April 2008
Initial limited consultation took place
Jan 2010
Stage 1 Report Approved - 20 Feb 2012
Second public
consultation - Nov 2013
Preferred options and
Stage 2 Report published - 27 Nov 2015
Consultants appointed
to progress design - Sep 2015
First work to close up gaps in central
barrier on Hillsborough Bypass began - 6
Feb 2017
Third public
consultation - Jun 2017
Fourth public consultation - Feb 2018
Work to close up gaps in central barrier
on Banbridge Bypass took place - Feb and
Mar 2018
Public inquiry - Mar
2020
Departmental response to Inquiry –
decision to proceed - 28 Jan 2021
Tender for new
junctions to be released - 2025 at
earliest - (was Mar 2022 as of Nov 2020)
Construction to last 3 years (as of Sep
2024)
|
Cost
|
£110-120m as of Sep
2024
(changed
from 65-75m as of
Nov 2023; £67m as of Mar
2019; £40-50m as of May 2016; £42.8m
as of Nov 2015; £30-45m for the four
main schemes, plus £3.6m for the
Castlewellan Road scheme as of Feb
2012; £22m as of 2006 |
See
Also
|
DFI
web site on the scheme
A1 on this
site
Grade
separation of Rathfriland Road,
Banbridge on this site
Grade
separation of Hillsborough Road,
Dromore on this site
Grade
separation of Newry/Cascum Road,
Banbridge on this site
Grade
separation of a further 4 A1 junctions
on this site
A1/M1 direct
flyover link on this site
|
Click here to
jump straight down to updates for this scheme.
This proposal (also
referred to as "A1 Junction Improvements Phase
2") is motivated by the desire to improve safety
on the A1, which is plagued by crashes occurring
at the notorious "gap" junctions - places where
vehicles can turn right across the central
reservation. These proposals will add four new
grade-separated junctions in rural areas - 1
between Hillsborough and Dromore and 3 between
Dromore and Banbridge - which will not only
improve safety at these specific junctions, but
also allow u-turns, hence allowing other nearby
junctions to be reduced to left-turn movements
only. Other side roads will be completely closed
up. An onslip will also be provided at
Castlewellan Road, Banbridge. Once all the
junctions are built and side roads restricted or
closed, the central reservation will be closed
up completely between Hillsborough and
Loughbrickland. This will turn this part of the
A1 into an "Expressway" with no right turns
allowed.
You can view a map
of the locations of the proposed grade-separated
junctions by clicking
here [DFI map].
The maps below show the proposals for each
junction in turn plus the Milebush Link Road in
Dromore. The Milebush Link Road will connect
Milebush Road to the existing grade-separated
junction at Hillsborough Road, Dromore (which
opened in June 2005). These graphics are all
taken from the Stage 2 Scheme Assessment Report
published in November 2015.
Works undertaken to date are:
- Central crash barrier closed up from
Hillsborough Roundabout to Dromore Road
grade-separated junction on the Hillsborough
Bypass. Work began 6 Feb 2017 for six weeks.
Distance 2.3 km. Cost £230,000.
- Central crash barrier closed up from
Springwell Loanin to Bannview Road Bridge on
the Banbridge Bypass. Work began 11 Feb 2018
for three weeks. Cost £200,000.
- Central crash barrier closed up from
Bannview Road Bridge to Castlewellan Road
Bridge on the Banbridge Bypass. Work began 4
Mar 2018 for 3-4 weeks. Cost £250,000.
- Central crash barrier closed up at an
agricultural crossing on the Dromore Bypass
between Banbridge Road and Lower Quilly Road,
and an agricultural crossing on the A1 between
Glen Road and Dromore Road, Hillsborough and
1.3 km of new crash barrier in two sections.
Work began 4 Mar 2019 for 5 weeks. Cost
£200,000.
The Junction Proposals (from
north to south)
The
only junction proposal located between
Hillsborough and Dromore, this will connect Listullycurran
Road via a fairly straightforward
arrangement with an overbridge and two approach
embankments. [DFI map]
The Milebush
Link Road is a short stretch of road
linking Milebush Road to the existing
grade-separated junction at Hillsborough
Road, Dromore, which opened in 2005. It will
allow the Milebush Road connection to the A1 to
be closed completely. [DFI map]
This junction is located between Dromore and
Banbridge and connects both sides of Gowdystown
Road, which is currently
a pair of staggered T-junctions, via a flyover.
It will have a cutting on the south and an
embankment on the north due to the sloping land.
[DFI map]
Located half
way between Dromore and Banbridge, this
junction connects Skeltons Road, Tullyhenan Road
and Drumneth Road to the A1, also via a flyover.
The slope of the land means it will involve a
very substantial cutting on the south side and a
substantial embankment to the north. [DFI map]
Located
between Dromore and Banbridge, close to
the latter, this one will connect Waringsford
Road and Quarry Road to the A1 via a flyover. It
will involve taking some land from Tullyraine
Quarries on the SW side, and closing up their
direct access onto the A1. It will also involve
quite a network of local accommodation roads to
give access to private properties that currently
open directly onto the A1. [DFI map]
The final proposal is
in Banbridge and involves the provision of
a northbound onslip from Castlewellan Road onto
the A1. Right turns will then be banned in or
out of Old Manse Road, but left-turn movements
will be possible. Thus the junction will allow
all movements except for exiting the A1
northbound. [DFI map]
Development of the Proposals
The original 2006
proposals included a map which suggested that
the four junctions would be:
- Hillsborough roundabout on the A1
- Either Maypole Hill or Milebush Road in
Dromore (it was unclear which)
- B25 Gowdystown Road (between Dromore and
Banbridge)
- A26 Newry Road / Cascum Road, Banbridge
The last of these four was built by a private
developer in 2006, as part of the Bridgewater
Park retail park. The Hillsborough
roundabout upgrade was subsequently included as
part of the A1/M1 Sprucefield Bypass. In the
"Investment Delivery Plan for Roads" published
in April 2008, the plan was re-launched with
these two proposals removed, and the proposed
junction at Dromore also removed. The B25
proposal remained, and was joined by three
others to make the current list of four.
Progress
9 Oct 2024: The Minister John O'Dowd updated
the Assembly about this scheme literally the day
after my previous update. In that, he said that
procurement will begin this month
(October 2024), and he further stated that funds
will be coming from DFI, so this suggests that
the scheme now does have secure funding. So
allowing for a 12-15 month tendering process,
construction will (according to the Minister)
get underway in February 2025. Even if this date
does slip a bit, its sooner than the date I had
anticipated in the previous update, so that is
great news. However, he also gave the current
cost estimate as £110-120m, which is massively
up on the £67m being quoted in 2019. This is
almost certainly due to the massive rate in
construction inflation since Covid. But given
that the A1, along with the A5, are two of the
roads with the highest levels of fatal crashes,
it is very good that it is finally heading for
construction.
29 Sep 2024: In a report
to Newry, Mourne and Down District Council last
week DFI provided an update on this scheme. As
DFI announced in July (see previous update) DFI
is currently preparing the documents that would
be needed to put scheme out to tender: "Work
is ongoing to finalise the Business
Case and complete the preparation of the
contract documents". Whether and when it
actually goes out to tender will depend on the
Business Case being approved, the outstanding
statutory processes being completed and –
crucially – funding being allocated. Currently
there is no funding allocation, so until the
Executive provides that construction can't
happen. However, it does seem to be a high
priority within DFI which bodes well. The total
cost is comparable to that of the Cookstown
Bypass, which is also progressing towards
procurement. In terms of timescale, the
tendering process (once it begins) will take
12-15 months, with construction likely to take 3
years. So, in a best case scenario of the scheme
going out to tender next summer, work could get
underway in late 2026. However, that's likely to
be an optimistic timescale in the current
economic climate.
5 Jul 2024: In the Assembly
on 2 July the DFI Minister made very
positive-sounding noises about this scheme.
First of all, he said that he was going to
proceed with the scheme, saying "I can
confirm that, following deliberations with my
officials on the capital budget, I will
proceed with the safety improvements to the A1".
Now this could just mean that he will give
approval to build it, and then await sufficient
cash. But the fact that he explicitly links it
to a budget discussion suggests it might mean
more than that. Back in March (see update below
for 8 Mar 2024) he commented that he was
considering breaking the scheme into smaller
chunks. That no longer appears to be on the
table. He said "They will be done in
one package rather than over a series of
phases". The Minister finished by thanking
campaigners and noting that he had "lifted
the embargo" on the project "which will
now proceed". I'm not sure what this last
comment about embargoes means, as this was not
one of the schemes that DFI "paused" September
2023. The only problem was the lack of cash to
proceed to tender, so if this statement means
anything, it can only mean that he has now got
the cash. So on this basis we may hear more
about this project in the near future.
24 May 2024: The DFI Minister made a
reference to this scheme in an oral
question session in the Assembly on 14
May. He was asked when we might see progress
towards the commencement of at least some of the
elements of this scheme. He said "I am working
my way through my capital budget, and I hope to
be able to make an announcement in the next
number of weeks." This is far from a commitment,
but nevertheless the language suggests that we
may hear more on this scheme in the next few
months. As a reminder, the suggestion has been
that the individual elements (for example,
single flyover junctions) of the overall scheme
could be released as individual tenders on an
ad-hoc basis as funding allows. That is the same
way that Phase 1 was delivered 15 years ago.
17 Apr 2024: This scheme got quite
a bit of publicity this past week, with a
group of people impacted by deaths on the road
holding a gathering at Stormont on Monday.
Someone has died on the A1 on average once every
6 months over the past 20 years. The current
scheme would remove the "gap junctions" that
have been the site of many of these fatalities.
However, the scheme is not going to go ahead in
the near future as it does not yet have funding,
and also because DFI seem to want to await the
outcome of the new Regional Strategic Transport
Network Transport Plan (RSTNTP) which is still
in development. The BBC article mentions that
the scheme may be broken up into smaller phases,
as reported in the previous update below. This
would allow the scheme to proceed piecemeal with
smaller cash allocations, such as happened with
the previous round of upgrades in 2004-2009
which focused on the stretch from Banbridge to
Hillsborough.
8 Mar 2024: As we know, there is
currently no funding to build this scheme, but
it continues to be very much needed. It now
seems that DFI are considering breaking the
scheme into phases - much as was done 15 years
ago with phase 1 where every junction was a
separate contract. In an Oral Answer in the Assembly
three days ago, the DFI Minister was asked about
the A1 and he commented that "I am looking at
ways to finance and deliver those [new
junctions], and at whether we can do the work
in phases". The same answer was given to a
Written
Question in February 2024, where the
Minister said that "my Department is
exploring options to deliver the project in
smaller phased packages". This would allow
the scheme to proceed piecemeal with smaller
cash allocations. However, it must also be noted
that in the November 2023 report
to Lisburn City and Castlereagh Council DFI said
that "a future decision on the subsequent
progression of the [A1 junctions phase 2]
scheme will be made once the Department’s
emerging transport policies and plans have
been developed to a sufficient stage, in
particular the Regional Strategic Transport
Network Transport Plan (RSTNTP)". This
suggests that it is not just lack of cash, but
also the outcome of the new transport plans that
is holding the scheme up. The same document also
gives the total estimated cost of the scheme as
£65-75m, which is (on average) a bit more than
the figure of £67m quoted in 2019.
1 Dec 2023: In DFI's most
recent report to Lisburn and Castlereagh
Council an update is given on the scheme. The
report summarises what we know, but adds that "advance
ground investigations" have been
completed, which means investigating exactly
what material lies underground and at what depth
as this will inform the detailed design of the
structures. They also add that "archaeological
investigations" are also complete. These
are required by law and involve checking
historical sources and doing some superficial
physical investigations on-site to ascertain
what type of archaeology, if any, is likely to
be encountered once earthworks begin. The report
doesn't say when these works were completed, so
this may or may not be referring to work that
took place some time ago. Currently the project
is one of the few that has NOT been paused, and
as it has already passed its public inquiry, DFI
Roads are now preparing the tender documents
which will be used to appoint a contractor. This
won't happen until a source of funds has been
identified, and at this point no funding has
been allocated so once the tender documents are
prepared work will then pause pending a funding
decision.
15 Sep 2023: DFI Roads last month released
a document showing how the current roads
programme will be prioritised in the current
economic and legislative climate, where DFI is
now required to de-carbonise transport. The
document confirms that the scheme has NOT been
cancelled and hasn't even paused. It does note
that, as we already knew, it does not currently
have any funding and is not an Executive
flagship project so will not happen in the near
future. The document states that "Development
work on contract documents to continue to
progress towards the next key decision on
procurement of the scheme which will be
considered following confirmation of RSTNTP".
This means that they are going to continue the
paperwork needed to put the scheme out to
tender, should funding be allocated at some
point in the future. The RSTNTP (Regional
Strategic Transport Network - Transport Plan) is
the next road transport plan and is still in
development, but which we hope to see within the
next year or two. The wording implies that DFI
expect improvements to the A1 to be included in
the new RSTNTP. While of course we don't know
that at this point, it seems to me to be likely
to survive as it's primarily a safety-driven
scheme.
6 Oct 2022: In their latest
report to Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon
Council DFI provided a further update on this
scheme. In the previous update below I commented
that the tender documents were now being
prepared, and the new update says that these
will be completed by "August 2023". We are also
told that "due to a change in design
standards a modification to the type of safety
barrier, from wire rope to a concrete barrier,
will be implemented along the full extent of
the scheme". I am not certain exactly what
has changed in the standards, but concrete
barriers are generally considered to be more
robust than wire and suitable for higher traffic
levels. Additionally, wire is particularly
disliked by motorcyclists. The report also says
that DFI working on an updated business case
(economic argument for building the scheme) and
that this should be completed "soon" and will
then go to the Dept of Finance for their
approval. This would be useful to see as it's
likely costs have increased since the last cost
estimate in 2019 (£67m). I can't see work
getting underway before 2025 at the earliest due
to the current economic/budget situation.
24 Aug 2022: In a press
release earlier this month, the new DFI
Minister announced that he has instructed his
staff to prepare the tender documents for the A1
junctions phase 2 scheme "as a priority
during 2022/23". As noted in the previous
update (below) even if there was a functioning
Executive it is unlikely that funding will be
available for this scheme in the next 3 years.
That said, it does reinforce my impression that
this scheme along with the A4 Enniskillen Bypass
scheme are the two that are now "top of the
pile" at DFI once the A5 and A6 are taken out.
My impression is that the A1, in particular, is
seen as important by DFI engineers.
8 July 2022: Without a functioning
Executive the NI budget for 2022-25 remains in
draft form and it is hard to see how funding can
be released for this project. That said, while
DFI did include this scheme in
its bid for the three year budget, the
draft budget is very tight with insufficient
funds even for committed projects, let alone new
ones like this. Without some significant change,
not only a restored Executive but also
substantially more funding, it is hard to see
this scheme progressing to construction in the
next three years.
18 Oct 2021: This A1 junctions phase 2
scheme involves closing all the central
reservation gaps on the stretch from
Hillsborough to Loughbrickland. This
specifically omits two other sub-standard
sections, namely Sprucefield to Hillsborough and
Loughbrickland to Newry (at Beech Hill). However
DFI's update
to Lisburn and Castlereagh Council in June
contained an interesting reference to the first
of these, the stretch of the A1 from Sprucefield
to Hillsborough. It says "...a feasibility
study has been carried out on the section of
the A1 between Hillsborough and Sprucefield.
This was to consider the potential closure of
central median crossings and provision of
central median barrier where possible. The
outcome of this study is being considered
further." The wording does not give any
commitment to actually do anything, but it is
notable that it is on the radar at least.
Hopefully something will also happen on the
Loughbrickland to Beech Hill stretch. We will
await further developments on both points.
14 Jun 2021: In the previous update on 1
Feb 2021 (below) I reported that DFI were going
to "make" two legal orders, the Direction Order,
which gives DFI permission to build a new trunk
road, and the Stopping Up Order, which gives DFI
the power to close up certain side roads and
private accesses that join the A1 directly.
These orders were legally "made" on
9 June. The Stopping Up Order will come
into effect on 24 June, meaning DFI can legally
close off these accesses from the date, though
in practice they'll remain open until the works
have been carried out. The Trunk Road Order
takes effect on 5 July. The recent delay to the
A5 upgrade will free up some cash over the next
year or so, and my feeling is that this is one
of three schemes that could benefit (the others
being the A24 Ballynahinch
Bypass and the A4
Enniskillen Bypass). The next step would
be to make the Vesting Order (which will give
them the land needed) and start a procurement
process to appoint a contractor. The Investment
Strategy for NI web site currently
anticipates the scheme going out to tender by
March 2022, with construction possibly to begin
by June 2023. I have to caution that dates given
on the ISNI web often bear little relation to
reality. But it is at least indicating that it
is not far into the future.
1 Feb 2021: Earlier this week DFI
published both the report of the Public Inquiry
and DFI's response to the report. Both are
accessible here,
along with a statement the DFI Minister gave
about the development. In short, the Inspector
recommends that the scheme progress as planned,
with only the most minor of tweaks, practically
all of which DFI has accepted. In addition, the
Minister has decided to proceed with the scheme,
which in practical terms means that DFI will now
make two legal orders that need to be in place
in order to build it - the Direction Order,
which gives DFI permission to build a new trunk
road, and the Stopping Up Order, which gives DFI
the power to close up certain side roads that
join the A1 directly. A third legal order is
also needed – the Vesting Order, which gives DFI
the power to compel landowners to sell the
necessary land to them – but DFI are not making
that legal order yet as they need to await
funding. The Minister appears to regard the
scheme as a very high priority, saying "I
believe the scheme should be progressed as
quickly as possible, subject to completing all
the necessary statutory processes and securing
the necessary funding". Once funding is
found I would expect it to go out to tender very
quickly. The fact that the Investment
Strategy for NI web site does not
anticipate this to happen for another year
(March 2022) suggests funding is not expected in
the incoming year, but perhaps next year. The
announcement was welcomed by many, including the
families of the many people who have died on
this dangerous stretch of road.
29 Nov 2020: In a Written
Answer the DFI Minister stated that the
public inquiry inspector finally submitted his
report on March's public inquiry to the DFI on
19 October 2020. The report will be published
along with DFI's response at a later date, and
in her Written Answer the Minister has said that
she hoped this would be "towards the end of
January 2021". Assuming DFI decides to
proceed, the scheme will then need to await a
funding allocation from the Executive to proceed
to construction. Last year the Investment
Strategy for NI web site listed the scheme
as planned to go out to tender by March 2021,
but this has now been changed to March 2022, a
shift of a year. So even with funding,
commencement of work on the ground is still at
least 2 years away.
11 Sep 2020: In a Written
Answer the DFI Minister confirmed that
further work on the project has been held up by
the Covid-19 pandemic, as the public inspector
wished to "undertake a number of site meetings"
before submitting his report, and was unable to
do so. However, it is now thought that the
inspector's report will be given to DFI by
"early October". It is likely that the inspector
will recommend that the scheme proceed, perhaps
with minor tweaks, but it will not be made
public at that time. DFI will take some time,
usually a few months, to consider all the issues
raised and will then publish both the report and
their response (Departmental Statement) at the
same time. There is as yet no funding allocation
for the scheme, so a procurement and
construction process won't necessarily begin
even if DFI decide to proceed.
12 Jun 2020: The public inquiry into
this scheme was held in March so we are now
awaiting the inspector's report. The DFI
Minister announced her budget
for the next year, which allocated money to the
Executive's flagship projects (A5, A6 and
Belfast Transport Hub) but did not give any
funding for any other capital road schemes,
including the Enniskillen Bypass. However she
followed this up today with a press
release clarifying that she had approved
funding for the continuation of planning of
several planned road schemes, including the A1
Junctions Phase 2. There is a general consensus
that this scheme is needed on safety grounds, so
I would read this as indicating the Minister's
support for the scheme and that it is one of the
schemes she hopes to progress once the
"flagship" projects have been progressed
further.
27 Jan 2020: It has now been confirmed
that the public inquiry into this scheme will
commence on 11 March 2020 at 10am in the Belmont
House Hotel, Banbridge. Ahead of this, there
will be a pre-inquiry meeting at 7pm on 6
February 2020 in the Belmont House Hotel. The
pre-inquiry meeting is to help work out the
schedule for the inquiry and what order it will
look at evidence from objectors. Anyone with an
interest in the scheme, or affected by it,
should consider turning up or sending a
representative. The Departmental Statement has
been published here
- this is what is being considered at the
Inquiry.
7 Jan 2020: Yet another fatal
crash on this stretch of the A1 in
November focused minds once again on these plans
to upgrade the road by sealing up all right
turns. In 2019 the Investment Strategy for
Northern Ireland web
site was estimating that the scheme would
go out to tender by December 2020. This has now
been shifted to March 2021, with tender award by
March 2022. More notably, however, the same web
page is estimating that construction will not
commence until June 2023. That would mean a 15
month gap between tender award and start of
construction, which would be rather odd. Perhaps
this reflects DFI's anticipation of when funding
will become available. Or it could be that the
winning contractor will be expected to carry out
further design work during that time. I have
also said that it is possible that the scheme
might actually be tendered as a series of
smaller jobs, perhaps single flyover junctions.
The last time there was a junction upgrade on
the A1, about ten years ago, it happened in this
way. One to watch anyway. In the meantime, a
public inquiry is planned for March this year.
9 Nov 2019: As I predicted in my
previous update (below) DFI seem to have
announced that a public inquiry will be held
into this scheme in March 2020 (though I can
find no mention of this on the DFI web site).
Although there has been some criticism
of the delay this could create, there are two
points that need to be made on this. Firstly,
although the odd scheme gets away without one, a
public inquiry is normal for a scheme of this
scale and is therefore not unexpected. Not
holding a public inquiry in the face of
objections could leave the scheme open to a
legal challenge which would delay it in any
case. Secondly, the scheme currently has no
funding allocation, so even if a public inquiry
does add nine months to the timescale, it's
unlikely to hold up construction which has to
wait for funding anyway.
26 Jun 2019: DFI have just published
their Stage 3 Scheme Assessment Report for this
project, which can be seen here.
The report includes the final proposed design
(in Appendix A), the one that would likely be
considered at a public inquiry. The designs for
the grade-separated junctions are largely the
same as the ones shown further up this page, but
with some refinement and tweaks to alignments.
The report also includes the design for all the
side roads that are to be either stopped up or
limited to left-turn only. The scheme
encompasses most of the length of the A1 between
Hillsborough and Loughbrickland, i.e. it is not
merely the provision of four flyover junctions.
There is still no funding allocation, and the Investment
Strategy NI now lists the scheme as to go
out to tender in December 2020, a year later
than it was given in the ISNI this time last
year. I think we are likely to see a public
inquiry as the next step, but this might not now
sit until 2020. If the scheme does get funding
(it currently has none) then the earliest
commencement date would now be late 2021.
7 Apr 2019: As expected, DFI have now published
their Environmental Impact Assessment and draft
legal orders for this scheme. The public have
until 28 June to give their responses. Having
completed their design process, the scheme
outlined in these documents is now the final
proposal, the one that is likely to be examined
at a future public inquiry. The timing of this
is uncertain, but I do get the impression that
DFI are currently working quite hard to get this
scheme shovel-ready. It's listed in the Investment
Strategy NI as to go out to tender in
December 2019, so I would expect to see a public
inquiry convened around the end of 2019. The
total cost of the scheme is now being quoted
at £67m, which is a lot higher than the
£40-50m being quoted in 2016. The scheme does
not, however, currently have a funding
allocation which would have to be made by a
Minister or, in the continued absence of such, a
senior civil servant. If funding were to be
found, construction getting underway in the
second half of 2020 is plausible.
6 Mar 2019: This project continues to
edge slowly closer to construction. DFI Roads
have said that the Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) and draft statutory orders will
be published later this month. The EIA is the
document that sets out DFI's rationale for the
scheme and also the impacts it will have. The
draft statutory orders will include the
Direction Order (that gives DFI the power to
build a new trunk road) and the Vesting Order
(that compels landowners to sell the necessary
land to DFI). It is all these documents that
will be examined at the public inquiry that is
likely to follow. The Investment
Strategy NI web site is still listing this
scheme as to go out to tender in December 2019,
which is feasible and could see construction
getting underway in 2020, though in the absence
of an Executive I'm not sure how much we can
rely on these dates. Meanwhile, work started on
4 March on the 4th "micro" scheme that is slowly
seeing the central reservation gaps closed up
between Sprucefield and Loughbrickland. This one
will see two more gaps closed up - a somewhat
overgrown agricultural crossing on the Dromore
Bypass between Banbridge Road and Lower Quilly
Road here,
and an agricultural crossing on the A1 between
Glen Road and Dromore Road, Hillsborough here.
Once closed, two stretches of crash barrier will
be erected, totalling 1.3 km. These may seem
like minor works, but every one of these
represents a danger, and needs its own legal
order to close, so it's vital that DFI take
their time to deal with them all individually.
Work is to be completed by mid April at a cost
of £200,000.
23 Jun 2018: Although small scale works
on closing the central barriers have been
ongoing for some months now, we are still
awaiting the "big" element of this scheme which
is the construction of the four new
grade-separated junctions and other links.
Interestingly, the Investment
Strategy for Northern Ireland Pipeline
contains an entry suggesting that this "big"
part of the scheme is to go out to tender by
December 2019 with a total project cost of
£40-45m, an amount sufficient to build all the
outstanding elements. Two notes of caution - DFI
have repeatedly said that the scheme could be
broken into small elements as and when money is
available, so putting all four major junctions
out to tender at once feels a bit unlikely. It's
also worth commenting that without a functioning
Executive it's hard to put much certainty in
this sort of thing. What we CAN deduce is that
this scheme is at least regarded as a high
priority once the current flagship projects are
underway (A5, A6, York Street). The only other
non-flagship schemes that seem to be operating
to this timescale are the A4
Enniskillen Bypass and the A24
Ballynahinch Bypass project.
13 Mar 2018: Another public
consultation (the fourth for this scheme)
happened from 15-21 February. In terms of the
new grade-separated junctions, what was
presented was almost identical to 2017's
proposals. The planners recently uploaded a
marvellous, and surprisingly atmospheric,
visualisation of what the Waringsford Road
grade-separated junction would look like to
YouTube here. In the most recent
consultation there have been some amendments to
the proposals for side roads, principally that
Backnamullagh Road will now be stopped up and a
link road provided to Listullycurran Road.
Therefore in the latest plan, 9 side roads are
to be closed completely and the remainder
converted to left-in/left-out (LILO). Following
public feedback, increased merge/diverge lanes
have been added to several LILO junctions. If
you missed the consultation, you can see the
material here.
Meanwhile, work to close the central reservation
on the A1 between Hillsborough and
Loughbrickland is continuing. The closure of all
crossing points on the Banbridge Bypass between
Springwell Loanin and Bannview Road Bridge was
undertaken between 11 February and the start of
March, and between Bannview Road Bridge and
Castlewellan Road Bridge beginning on 4 March.
The cost was £200k for the former £250k for the
latter.
5 Nov 2017: According to details at the
bottom of a DFI
press release, this scheme has been
granted €1.5million (£1.35million) of European
Union funding through the Connecting Europe
Facility for ongoing design work. Every little
helps, as they say!
11 Jun 2017: TransportNI are engaging in
another public consultation for the proposal to
add four new grade-separated junctions, one new
sliproad at Banbridge, and one short link road
at Dromore. The consultation also covers the
proposal to close up all gaps in the central
reservation between Hillsborough and
Loughbrickland (except the Hillsborough Bypass
which was closed up earlier this year). You can
see the various documents here,
by scrolling down to "Community Consultation
Documents". The proposals are essentially the
same as the ones pictured further up this page,
just a bit more detailed, so I'm not going to
reproduce them all again here. The second
document, "Route Map" shows what will happen to
all the existing "gap" junctions along this
stretch, while the third document "Indicative
Junction Layouts" shows the designs for the new
junctions and links. I note that the scheme does
not seem to include the stretch of the A1 from
Hillsborough to Sprucefield. It's not clear why
the final couple of miles, which has several
"gap junctions", has been excluded - but it may
be because of the plan to build an A1 bypass of Sprucefield
at an undefined point in the future which, if
built, would render such works redundant. The
public consultation is an opportunity for all
those affected or interested to see the
proposals in detail and ask questions of
TransportNI representatives, and will take place
as follows:
- Banbridge Old Town Hall, Wednesday 14 June
2017 from 11am to 8pm,
- Hillsborough Court House, Tuesday 20 June
2017 from 11am to 8pm; and
- Dromore Town Hall, Thursday 22 June 2017
from 11am to 8pm
28 Jan 2017: As noted in the previous
update, Transport NI will on 6 February commence
the first
phase of works that will eventually see
all gaps in the central reservation of the A1
closed up between Hillsborough and
Loughbrickland. This first scheme will close the
gaps on the 2.3 km stretch between Hillsborough
roundabout and the Dromore Road grade-separated
junction at the southern end of the town. Work
will take six weeks and will cost £230,000. This
is an extremely welcome move, as these dangerous
gap junctions have resulted in multiple deaths
in recent years. This scheme represents just
under 10% of the stretch that is to be upgraded,
so let's hope the remainder of the works can be
carried out before too long. There has been no
indication since late 2015 of any further
progress on the four new grade-separated
junctions and one new sliproad that are planned
as part of the scheme. However in a Question for
Written Answer in the Assembly just before
Christmas (AQW 8693/16-21) the Minister said
(referring particularly to the grade-separated
junctions) "A significant amount of
development work has already been carried out
for the proposal, however, much remains to be
done. The current phase of this work involves
the completion of the detailed design and
Environmental Statement in preparation for
taking the proposal through the Statutory
Procedures, which will likely include a Public
Inquiry." So don't expect these junctions
in the near future.
25 Sep 2016: Nothing much has happened
on the five new grade-separated junctions plus
one link road that are to be built as part of
this scheme since the last update in December.
However, TransportNI do seem to have started
work on their related plan to close all gaps in
the central crash barrier completely between
Hillsborough and Loughbrickland. They seem to be
starting at the north end, so the first stretch
to get this treatment is the Hillsborough Bypass
where all six existing gaps will be closed. The
proposals were put out for public consultation
in the summer and can be viewed here.
Some of these are merely field accesses (like this
one), but the one most likely to be
noticeable to drivers is the closure of the
Moira Road gap junction here,
turning it into a left-in/left-out T-junction.
Once these are all closed, I assume TransportNI
will build a continuous crash barrier from
Hillsborough Roundabout to the Dromore Road
grade separated junction. While the legal order
has been out for consultation, it's not clear if
there is currently any funding to move towards
actual implementation. By coincidence a lady
tragically lost
her life at the Moira Road junction on the
A1 on 6 August, though it is worth noting that
the crash does not seem to have involved a
right-turn manoeuvre and so this scheme is
unlikely to have affected the outcome. Finally,
in a report
to the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council
in May, TransportNI gave the cost of the scheme
as "£40-50m", which seems to be a bit of an
increase (though admittedly also somewhat
vaguer) than the cost of £42.8m that was quoted
in 2015. (I have decided NOT to list works to
close gap junctions on this site as "current
work" because they're likely to take place in
small bits over a number of years and hence
listing it as a "current scheme" could be
misleading.)
2 Dec 2015: The DRD have finally
published the "Stage 2 Report" that I
suspect was approved by the DRD board in March
2014 (see previous update). The report
recommends a single, preferred option for each
of the four proposed grade separated junctions
plus a link road in Dromore called the Milebush
Link Road, plus a single onslip at Castlewellan
Road, Banbridge. The report also lists all the
junctions between Hillsborough and
Loughbrickland that will be completely
closed and those that will be reduced to
left-in/left-out only. There is a lot to digest
there, but for those who want the bottom line
they have also published
a public information leaflet that
summarises it. On the basis of this report I
have re-written the information at the top of
this page to reflect the preferred options and
included a map of each proposal. The public
information leaflet does not mention a cost, but
the full Stage 2 report gives a total cost of
£42.8m. The grade-separated junctions all cost
between £3.5m and £4.7m, except for Skelton's
Road at £6.5m. The Milebush Road cost is £1.0m,
while closing up or modifying the various side
roads is listed as £5.6m. £2.5m is given for
closing up the central barrier, £1.7m for
accommodation works (maintaining access to
property). A final £8.5m is for planning and
contingency costs. This total cost of £42.8m is
well within the broad estimate given in 2012 of
£30-45m which is good news. The DRD may choose
to appoint a contractor to build the entire
scheme at once, or they may choose to award
smaller contracts for the individual elements of
the scheme (as happened with the previous
grade-separated junctions on the A1). This
latter approach would allow the scheme to begin
with more limited funding. Meanwhile, a death
yesterday on the A1 which occurred at one of the
gap junctions between Loughbrickland and Newry
(which the DRD have NO plans to remove) has
again drawn attention to this issue, and raises
the question of whether the scope of the A1
junctions project should be extended all the way
to Newry.
9 Nov 2015: Although the DRD's web site
used to state that the "Stage 2 Report" had been
approved by the DRD board on 23 March 2014, this
information has disappeared again from the
equivalent page on the DRD's new web site.
Now it is saying that consultants were appointed
during September 2015, presumably to progress
the design and settle on a single preferred
option for each junction). So it's not clear
exactly what has been happening since the last
public exhibition two years ago, especially
since at that time they said they expected the
preferred options to be published by "early
2014", but which has still not happened. But at
least there seems to have been some recent
movement. I do hope the DRD engineers take the
"big picture" view and resist the pressure and
temptation to keep lots of these minor junctions
open, since people are continuing
to die at them (three since the previous
update to this page). A little inconvenience for
a small number of road users could save the
lives of others.
18 Dec 2014: The Minister was
asked about progress on this set of schemes in
the Assembly last week and he gave some
details. As we know, a public consultation was
held just over a year ago in November 2013 where
several options were given for four junctions
and one design for the fifth junction (see
update for Dec 2013 below). The Minister has now
said that following that consultation "significantly
fewer closures of minor road junctions with
the A1 are being proposed than previously".
This is presumably due to concerns about local
people having to make long detours. When I first
read this I was horrified as I thought it meant
they were proposing to retain some "gap"
junctions (where vehicles can turn right across
the central reservation) but it seems that this
is not what is proposed. The proposal is to keep
a number of side roads open as left-in/left-out
only. This still isn't ideal on a high-speed
road such as this (since it means vehicles
turning left onto the road from a standing
start) and it is unfortunate that it means that
the standard of the upgraded road will not be as
great as it could be, but it is still better
than the current situation. I at least hope that
the left-in/left-out junctions are provided with
sufficient acceleration and deceleration lanes
to reduce the chances of rear-end type
collisions.
16 Jul 2014: The DRD seems to have moved
this scheme from the "forward
planning schedule" to the "preparation
pool" (although it now appears in both
lists!). The former are schemes that are planned
for the longer term, but aren't expected to be
built soon, where as the latter are expected to
proceed to construction within a few years. In
practice, schemes can sit in the preparation
pool for years and years, and even then require
a funding allocation before they can be built,
so it probably doesn't really tell us anything
about timescales for this particular scheme. But
what it does tell us is that Roads Service
regard this as a worthy scheme that ought to be
put amongst the others that are being developed
to a point where construction could actually
take place, rather than as a vaguer aspiration.
My expectation is that these five junctions will
continue to go through the planning process
together but will then be put out to tender as
smaller, separate schemes, perhaps allowing
their construction to proceed with smaller,
individual funding allocations.
25 Mar 2014: According to the DRD's
web site, the "Stage 2 Report" was
approved by the DRD board on 23 March 2014. I'm
not sure how seriously to take the actual date,
since the information appeared on the web site
ahead of that date, which is actually a Sunday,
so it may be a typo. However, the underlying
point is probably valid, ie that the scheme has
now advanced one more step. In December 2013
(see previous update below) DRD presented
several options for each junction. The Stage 2
report has not been published online, but may
well include the selection of a "preferred"
option in each case, informed by the public
consultations that took place in November. There
is still no word on a construction timetable,
and no funding has yet been allocated, but the
manner in which this scheme is proceeding
steadily through the statutory processes
suggests that it is seen as important. Because
the scheme consists of five separate junctions,
it could well proceed as five separate
construction schemes rather than one big scheme.
This would mean that they would not all have to
be built at the same time, and could be tendered
progressively over a period of time.
4 Dec 2013: The second round of public
consultations happened as expected in November.
All the information is online here.
In my previous update I said that they'd
probably present a "preferred" option in each
case. In fact, this was not the case. While they
have reduced the number of options, they have
only settled on a "preferred" option in one
case, and the final decision will not be taken
until early 2014. The list below describes what
is proposed at each junction. In each case the
link is to Roads Service's PDF that shows these
on maps (please let me know if these links are
broken, as Roads Service sometimes change URLs).
- At Listullycurran Road, there are three
options. The first two are variants on a
flyover located at Listullycurran Road. The
third option is an underpass located a few
hundred metres further north at Backnamullagh
Road.
- At Gowdystown Road, there are three
options. All three consist of a flyover,
differing only in the layout of the sliproads
and precise location of the bridge. Two of the
options would require the demolition of an
existing residential property.
- At Skeltons Road there are three
options. Two consist of a flyover
located close to Skelton's Road, while in the
third the bridge is located further east with
link roads connecting them back to the
existing local road network. Due to the lay of
the land here, all three options would require
substantial earthworks, consisting of both
cuttings and embankments (such as a possible
cutting through this
hill).
- At Waringsford Road there are three
options. This junction is doubly
challenging due to the close proximity of a
quarry which can affect the stability of the
bedrock and hence requires care when
constructing a bridge. All three consist of
flyovers. Two of the options are very similar,
featuring a C-shaped pair of sliproads. The
third option is more spread out, looking more
S-shaped and involving longer connecting
roads.
- At Castlewellan Road, Banbridge,
where a northbound onslip only is proposed,
there is only one
option. This is because the existing
site is so constrained by existing development
that only one option is really possible, ie a
straight onslip onto the A1. The same site
constraints mean that the sliproad would have
vertical walls (similar to this
one in Omagh). In this proposal the
right turn from the northbound A1 onto Old
Manse Road here
would be closed off, so that only three of the
four possible turning movements would be
possible at the completed junction.
Roads Service say that they
expect to have completed the process of
selecting a preferred option for the first four
junctions by "early 2014". After that they'll
work on the legal documents they need to
produce. The principal one of these is the
Environmental Statement which identifies the
impacts that the schemes would have on various
aspects of society and the landscape. After
that, there will almost certainly be a public
inquiry. All these steps will probably take at
least two years. After that, progress will
depend on funding. Roads Service have to bid for
funds to build a scheme, so at this point we
can't say when construction might take place,
except that it won't be within the next couple
of years.
30 Oct 2013: Roads Service have announced
that a second round of public consultations will
take place from next week. This almost certainly
means that they have now completed their
analysis of the various options (see previous
update below) and have come up with a
"preferred" option in each case. It is likely
that these are what will be shown to the public
at the consultations which will take place as
follows:
- 7 Nov 2013, 11.30am-8.30pm, Old Hillsborough
Courthouse, Hillsborough
- 13 Nov 2013, 11.30am-8.30pm, Old Town Hall,
Dromore
- 19 Nov 2013, 11.30am-8.30pm, Old Town Hall,
Banbridge
As this is one of the key opportunities for
anyone interested in or affected by the plans to
express their views, I would urge as many people
as possible to turn up, see what is proposed and
express your opinions and views to the DRD
representatives.
1 May 2013: In the last update around a
year ago I commented that the Stage 1 report
had been approved in February 2012, but not
published. Well, it has now been published and
is viewable
here. As I speculated at the time, the
report does indeed present a fairly detailed
analysis of various options for each of the five
junctions but stops short of recommending one in
particular for each site. If you don't have much
time you can read the Executive Summary here,
and view the maps for each location by clicking
these links (see map above for locations):
The report also states that the cost of the
first four schemes is in the range £30-45m
(almost double what was estimated in 2006) while
the cost of the final, smaller, scheme at
Castlewellan Road is estimated to be £3.6m. The
cost-benefit ratio comes out between 2.648 and
2.914, which is quite good and indicates that
the scheme would bring almost three times as
much benefit as cost over the 60 year assessment
period. However the most significant benefit -
that of saving lives at these
dangerous gap junctions - cannot truly be
assessed in this way.
6 April 2012:
According to the Roads Service web
site, the Stage 1 report was approved on
20 February 2012. No further information is
given, and the minutes of this meeting have not
been published yet. In most schemes a "Stage 1
Report" usually includes a fairly detailed
analysis of various options and determines which
options that are feasible and which are not. If
approved, this leads to detailed design work. It
is probably the same as the "preliminary options
report" referred to in the previous update. It
has not been published online as far as I can
tell, so for now this is all we know.
5 June 2011: According to the
minutes
of a Roads Service board meeting which
took place on 25 February work is progressing on
the "preliminary options report" for these four
junctions. This presumably is looking at how
feasible it is to grade separate each junction,
and how this might be achieved. It also confirms
that this project will result in the central
median barrier being closed up continuously from
the M1 to Loughbrickland (but with no mention of
the recently completed section from
Loughbrickland to Beech Hill which has some
central reservation crossings). The minutes also
note that there will be another round of public
consultation, but no timescale is given.
20 Jan 2010: According to the
Dromore
Today, a limited consultation exercise was
carried out in late December and early January.
The consultants wrote to a range of interested
parties, and also sought the names of those
individuals or organisations who should also be
consulted. More detailed consultations are to be
carried out later. Bizzarely, the newspaper
article in question focuses entirely on what
the reporter calls the "massive disruption"
that the scheme will cause to a small number
of people living on the side roads in
question, while completely ignoring the fact
that closing up right-turns on the A1 will
undoubtedly save dozens of lives in the years
ahead. Those who will no longer be able to
make right turns on the A1 will undoubtedly
feel inconvenienced, but surely not to the
same degree as the families of those
who have lost their lives at these dangerous
junctions.
29
Aug 2009: In their
report to Banbridge Borough Council in
June 2009, Roads Service added the following
comment: "The provision of a northbound
on-slip linking from the A50 Castlewellan
Road, Banbridge, to the northbound carriageway
of the A1 Banbridge Bypass is also being
considered." This proposal is in addition
to the four junctions already being discussed.
There is currently a link road connecting the
A50 to the A1 via a T-junction here.
However, since the plan is to close the central
reservation on the A1, this link road would
become accessible only to southbound traffic. A
northbound onslip would retain access onto the
A1 once the central reservation was closed. Only
traffic leaving the A1 northbound would not be
catered for, and this movement is restricted by
the proximity of the Rathfriland Road junction
about 500 metres to the south west.
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