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The Mahon Road Link is a long-term road proposal designed to connect the A3 Armagh Road and the Tandragee Road without needing to go into the centre of the town, by following an east-west route via Mahon Road. This is shown in the map below in red and blue:

The route of the proposed road is listed as "protected" in the Craigavon Area Plan 2010 (adopted 2004). In this document it says that 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". So this means that the scheme is NOT a developer-led scheme, ie it's not going to be provided by private developers as part of some housing development. It means that if it ever gets built, it will be by the government. At the time of writing (2014) the DRD - who would be the ones to build such a road- has no plans to proceed. However, the DRD did included the scheme in their own Sub-Regional Transportation Plan 2015 which was adopted in 2007 and sets out local road schemes they would like to build. This means that it is, at least, on the DRD's radar. Some other road schemes appear in Area Plans but not in the SRTP. Such schemes are even less likely to happen than those that at least make it into the SRTP.

This road scheme does not seem to date as far back as the Craigavon New City Plan in the 1960s as it does not appear in design schematics of the New City.

Despite it not being a developer-funded scheme, two parts of the road HAVE already been built, presumably because it suits people developing lands to provide part of the road to give access to their own lands. These are shown in blue in the map above. The first is part of Mahon Industrial Estate while the other is the first few hundred yards of a private development called The Olde Golf Links. The other chunks are visible from the air as land protection corridors, but have not been built (as of 2014).

Updates

4 Mar 2026: Having not updated this page since I created it twelve years ago, I suddenly have an update! A planning application has gone in for homes in this area, and lo and behold it includes completion of the Mahon Road Link. The application states that it involves the "Development of a link road connecting Mahon Road and Armagh Road / Northway Roundabout with development of a roundabout at Mahon Road and proposed residential development, industrial / warehouse/ business development". This link shows the area affected, with the route of the Mahon Road Link clearly outlined on the left. Portadown will also get another roundabout, hurrah! If that link doesn't work, go into the planning application link and look under Documents and then click "Site Location Plan" dated 5 Feb 2026. So we will need to wait and see if it gets permission. Hopefully the council will have the sense to require the road to be completed at an early stage of the project, and not make mistakes like were made in Larne. With thanks to Trevor McComb who spotted this scheme and let me know!