text:
A6 Dualling Dungiven to Londonderry
Construction scheme (current)
Sacyr, Wills Bros and Somague consortium
New high-quality dual-carriageway to replace the existing single-carriageway A6 from Dungiven to Drumahoe, including a bypass around the south side of Dungiven (Phase 1) and then from Drumahoe to the A2 at Gransha, and an upgrade of the existing A2 dual-carriagway from Caw to Maydown (Phase 2).
30.0km / 18.8 miles
Mar 2005 - Pilot study to select route from Castledawson to Derry announced.
Dec 2005 - Funding announced to build section from Dungiven to Derry.
Feb 2007 - Preliminary route corridor selected.
May 2008 - Five route options published.
6 May 2009 - Preferred route announced.
14 Dec 2011 - Draft legal documents published.
Jan 2012 - Public exhibitions.
24 Sep 2012 to 2 Oct 2012 - Public Inquiry held.
ca End Mar 2013 - Inspector submitted Public Inquiry report.
24 Feb 2016 - Departmental Statement published.
21 Feb 2017 - Construction tender released.
15 Aug 2017 - Vesting Order "made".
28 Mar 2018 - Contract awarded for Dungiven to Drumahoe section (phase 1).
(changed from "after 2015" as of Jan 2011, and "early 2013" as of Jul 2010).
26 Sep 2018 - Sod-cutting ceremony
Spring 2022 - Anticipated completion
£390-420m (as of Nov 2014) for whole scheme
(of which £220m for phase 1, Dungiven to Drumahoe) as of Mar 2018
(Changed from £230-255m for phase 1 as of Nov 2014; £350-390m as of Mar 2011; £320-390m as of Dec 2009; £320m as of Dec 2008 £300m as of Jun 2008 and £250 million as of 2005)
General area map.
Contractor's web site on scheme
DFI web site on scheme - very detailed information and reports.
This major project was first announced on 13 December 2005 by the Northern Ireland Secretary of State Peter Hain as part of a larger investment package for the city of Derry. It will see a dual-carriageway bypass of Dungiven town and dualling of the existing A6 from there to the A2 on the north-eastern periphery of Derry city. The road will be build to a high quality with two lanes each way, no breaks in the central barrier and fully grade separated junctions (ie flyovers). Plans announced in 2004 for a single-carriageway bypass of Dungiven at a cost of £11.1m have been subsumed by this much larger scheme, although the preliminary work done will still apply. The map below shows the section of the A6 affected by this upgrade which finally got underway in spring 2018:
The chosen route closely follows the existing A6, but generally off to one side apart from an onlien section around Burntollet. At the Derry end it heads inland and bypasses Drumahoe well to the north, terminating on the A2 at Caw. At the eastern end it bypasses Dungiven to the south. The most recent plan was published in February 2016 and is accessible here:
Strip Junction Map
This is a strip map of the design that was published in May 2009, and is still correct as of the updated design published in February 2016. Note that the design may change between this map and construction due to the evolution of the design, and the public inquiry.
Begins on A2 dual-carriageway, Derry
2+2 lanes
STRADREAGH
or GRANSHA
A2 Clooney
(into Derry)
(to Limavady)
5.3 km / 3.3 miles - 2+2 lanes
LISMACAROL ROUNDABOUT
(DRUMAHOE)
A?? Glenshane
(existing A6)
(into Derry).
Tirbracken
TAMNAHERIN ROAD
(THE CROSS)
Tamnaherin
ARDMORE ROAD
(BURNTOLLET)
Westbound access only.
Faughan River
Burntollet
KILLALOO
(GULF ROAD)
B74 Glenshane
(Claudy west)
Gulf Road
BARANAILT ROAD
(CLAUDY)
B69 Baranailt
Road (into
Claudy)
Road (towards
Limavady)
13.0 km / 8.1 miles - 2+2 lanes
FEENY ROAD
(DUNGIVEN WEST)
B74 Feeny
Dungiven)
MAGHERABUOY ROUNDABOUT
(DUNGIVEN EAST)
B? Glenshane
(existing A6;
into Dungiven)
Terminates as single-carriageway
A6 towards Belfast
1 lane each way
20 Dec 2019: As the winter sets in, work on the scheme now seems to be very focused around construction of structures (bridges and underpasses) of which there are 22 on the scheme. The contractor recently put up an update on their web site here, which lists all the structures that work is taking place on, plus a number of interesting photos at the bottom of their page. The unstoppable Paul McCloskey, meanwhile, has also been putting up pictures. You can see his images taken recently at the Dungiven end of the scheme here, here and here. Finally, Edward Durey of www.derrycityparamotoring.co.uk has put up a wonderful aerial video that he took of the western half of the scheme at the start of December. What follows is a brief commentary on this video, which begins at Drumahoe and works east almost as far as Claudy. The first minute is just Eddy taking off, so we begin at 1:09.
1:09 - The terminus of the scheme at Drumahoe. This is the site of the future Lismacarol roundabout on Tirbraken Road, which finally re-opened to traffic this week after a four week closure. The foundations of the eastern arm of the roundabout can just be seen to the left of the red fencing.
1:53 - With the road in a cutting, this is McCay's accommodation overbridge. The bridge piers appear completed, and the beams will be lifted into place during January.
2:25 - Trees cleared for the bridge over Liberty Glen, the largest structure on the whole scheme. Work on this bridge has not yet begun.
2:48 - Footprint of the new road very evident to the left of the existing road, which will remain in place here for local access.
3:05 - Approaching the site of the future Tamnaherin Road overbridge. The existing A6 has been diverted onto a temporary loop around the site to allow construction of the bridge and approach embankments. From here to Claudy the new road will subsume the existing A6.
3:28 - Passing Ervey Road. About 1km of new road is being built here to extend Ervey Road as far as the Tamnaherin Road junction, as it will no longer be able to join the A6 directly (as it currently does just ahead).
3:40 - New accommodation lane under construction to left of the current road.
4:00 - Approaching Burntollet, the most constricted point on the whole scheme, with woodland on either side plus the protected River Faughan.
4:21 - Burntollet bridge, with demolition of the 18th century stone bridge completed. The 20th century concrete bridge will also be demolished in due course to be replaced by a new structure. On the right, but not that visible, piling work is underway for the new bridge to carry Ardmore Road over the Faughan river.
4:45 - New road will run slightly to the left of the current alignment here. Excavation of the necessary cutting is not yet complete, but the land is fenced off.
5:47 - At Cumber Presbyterian Church the line of the road has to move to the right to avoid the historic structure, but the proximity of the river means a large embankment will be needed on the right here.
6:10 - Approaching the future Killaloo grade-separated junction, providing access to Claudy to/from the west. The new road follows the line of the existing, 20th century A6 (visible on the left), but on the right you can see the perfectly straight 18th century road that preceded it.
6:17 - Excavation on the bridge that will carry Killaloo Road over the new A6 here is completed, and construction of the bridge piers has begun.
7:10 - Long stretch of earthworks, and in the area just ahead it passes through quite boggy ground. This type of excavation sometimes needs cut-and-replace, where soft material is removed and replaced with higher-quality material, usually from elsewhere on the site.
7:51 - Eddy turns back at this point, just before reaching the Claudy junction.
Work is also underway on the rest of the scheme, after the video ends. Some highlights are:
At the future Claudy grade-separated junction, foundations of the bridge are construction has begun.
The Paul Ward accommodation underpass just east of Claudy is completed.
At Gortilea Road, which will be bridged over the new road, excavations are completed and construction is underway.
At Ballyhanedin Road, which will also pass over the new road, piling work on the foundations is ongoing.
The Altagarron Road underpass is completed and is being backfilled to allow the new A6 to be built above.
The Derrychrier Road underpass near Dungiven is also excavated. Pre-cast units will be fitted in late January 2020.
Near Dungiven, Feeny Road has been diverted around the site of the future grade-separated junction. Piling work for the bridge is currently underway.
Three river bridges are to be built near Dungiven - at the Owenbeg, Owenrigh and Roe rivers. The second of these is most advanced, with the abutments close to completion and beams to be put in place at the end of January. Piling work on the Roe bridge, meanwhile, is underway.
At the eastern terminus of the scheme in Dungiven, work is now underway on the Priory Lane overbridge. This will carry a laneway to maintain pedestrian access to Dungiven Priory.
20 Nov 2019: We are now a third of the way through constuction of this scheme, which is due to be completed in spring 2022. We are now seeing increasing evidence of the new road itself, as opposed to just earthworks. In this update I am sharing four great photos taken by AerialVisionNI and once again put up here with their permission - thank you. (You can see higher-res versions of the images here.) I'll leave the details to the captions of the photos. Ten days ago the contractor had to fully close the A6 at Drumahoe in order to lay a culvert beneath the road. This was not on the route of the dual-carriageway itself, but at a point where the existing road is to be realigned to meet the terminal roundabout at Lismacarol. The culvert had to be laid at a depth of several metres, meaning that the large plant equipment needed the full width of the road. Although it caused some disruption, the contractor tells us that it went very well, and was completed ahead of schedule, on the Sunday evening, despite heavy rain. Google Earth imagery has also been updated, so you can now see the scheme underway on the stretch from Claudy to Dungiven. The imagery is dated 21 September 2019. Anyway, here are the photos, working from east to west:
Pic 1: View north-east towards Dungiven town on 15 Nov 2019, with Feeny Road in the foreground. This will be the first grade-separated junction on the scheme. The new road, seen heading off to the top right here, will be in a shallow cutting and Feeny Road will remain on its original route, bridged over it. However, it has been temporarily realigned to the west to allow the bridge to be built. This temporary road will eventually be removed. There will be two pairs of sliproads - one to the top left of the bridge as seen from this angle, and one to the bottom right. There is some water ponding evident here due to the heavy rain, and the fact that the permanent drainage system has not yet been completed. [Aerial Vision NI]
Pic 2: Stunning view looking west of the new dual-carriageway taking shape near Foreglen on 15 Nov 2019. Foreglen village is off frame to the right, and the box structure visible at the very bottom is to carry Altagarran Road beneath the new road. The new road is on an embankment here, which is clearly taking shape, before entering a shallow cutting in the distance. The white lines on either side of the embankment mark the location of the future drainage channels. The existing A6 runs parallel to the new road, but about 500 metres to the right here. [Aerial Vision NI]
Pic 3: View east along the new dual-carriageway from close to Ballyhanedin Road (visible in the foreground) on 15 Nov 2019. This is between Foreglen village and Claudy. At this point the new road runs parallel to, but at a slightly lower elevation than, the existing A6 which will remain in use as a local road. Ballyhanedin Road will be bridged over the new road. Look at Ballyhanedin Road just as it approaches the T-junction. Then if you look upwards from there you can just see a rectangular water-filled hole. This is the excavation for the future overbridge. Ballyhanedin Road will be realigned to cross over a new bridge at this spot. At the bottom of the frame you can see workers continuing to excavate the cutting, which is in relatively soft ground here. [Aerial Vision NI]
Pic 4: Fish-eye view looking north across the site of the future Baranailt Road grade-separated junction, near Claudy, on 15 Nov 2019. To make sense of this shot it may be helpful to look at the map below, which shows how it will look when finished. All A6 traffic is now being diverted up the new link road visible above and to the right of the centre of the shot. This will become a permament road in due course, as this is the point where the existing A6 will become subsumed by the new road (to the left) but, beyond which it will remain as a local road (to the right). The closure of the current A6 is needed because the existing road is to be buried beneath an embankment which will carry it up and over Baranailt Road, which will be realigned and put into a slight cutting. On the extreme left you can see a deep hole which is being dug for the foundations of the new bridge. The house visible at the extreme right has been vested and will shortly be demolished, as it lies in the centre of the new road. [Aerial Vision NI]
Pic 5: Map showing the final layout of the Baranailt Road (Claudy) grade-separated junction.
14 Oct 2019: As the nights start to draw in, work on this scheme passed its first anniversary at the end of September. A number of road closures are underway - including Gulf Road and part of Foreglen Road at Killaloo, just west of Claudy. A new grade-separated junction is being built here, and Gulf Road lies beneath it, so it needs to be closed to allow the construction of a new bridge to carry Gulf Road over the new dual-carriageway. Meanwhile, a few miles to the east, a temporary new link road has opened at Baranailt Road. Because this is a relatively busy road (it is the main access onto the A6 from Claudy) it needs to remain open, despite a new junction being built on top of it. So the temporary new link road has been built to bypass the site in the interim. It will presumably be removed in due course. Meanwhile, just west of Dungiven, Killunaght Road and Derrychrier Road have both now been closed and will remain so until next summer. At this point the new road runs parallel to, and at a lower elevation than, the current road. Both local roads will be bridged over the new road, but as these bridge both lie on the route of the current roads they have to be closed to allow the bridges to be built. They will be reopened once completed. Finally, between Burntollet and Drumahoe Mavis Road is about to be closed, and will remain so for two years. Mavis Road is a very minor road, and is largely unaffected by the new road (it lies off to one side), but is of interest because a new link road is to be built at its south end to connect Ervey Road to the new Tamnaherin Road grade-separated junction. So the closure is presumably to allow work on the new link road to progress. In summary, we're now in the central phase of the project where many of the earthworks have been completed or advanced and work is increasingly focusing on construction of bridges and associated link roads. This is likely to remain the dominant activity for the next year. The new road is due to open fully by spring 2022, i.e. two and a half years from now.
11 Sep 2019: The scheme is approaching its first anniversary, with two-and-a-half years to go and activity is now evident along much of the length of the scheme. I am sharing four photographs below, which were all taken within the past week. But in addition, the contractor has put up a 45 minute aerial video of the entire scheme that was taken on 28 August, i.e. two weeks ago. As I did for the last video three months ago I have provided a brief commentary on the video below, for those who would find it useful. You may wish to open the video in a separate window and keep the commentary open beside it. Times refer to the points in the video where various things can be seen, in minutes and seconds. The first three photos below are aerial done shots taken by AerialVisionNI and put up here with their permission - thank you. You can see the original (higher-res) versions here. The final one was provided with thanks from Dee Logue. He shared other photos of the same location here and here. The contractor also put up an update in August on their site here, which includes further information and an interesting selection of photographs.
Commentary on this aerial video, which starts at Dungiven and ends at Drumahoe:
0:14 Starting at the eastern side of Dungiven, this is the site of the future Magherabuoy roundabout where the scheme will begin with a bypass around the town. Although the land here was cleared some months ago, earthworks have now begun to construct the road bed.
0:53 Dungiven Priory visible on the left. Access will be preserved by a new bridge to be built over the new road here.
1:30 Site of future bridge over the River Roe. The road seems very wide here because it has to be built up on an embankment on either side of the river, adding to the width needed.
2:00 Approaching Teeavan Road and Magheramore Road. There will eventually be a cutting here, and a bridge to carry Magheramore Road over it, but excavation has not yet begun.
2:40 Temporary bailey bridge over river.
4:30 Site of future Feeny Road grade-separated junction. The black, curvey lane on the left is a future agricultural accommodation laneway.
6:00 Temporary Derrychrier bailey bridge.
7:30 New embankment for the future A6 approaching Derrychrier Road, which will eventually go under the new road.
9:50 Cutting to carry future A6 beneath Killunaugh Road under construction (and partly flooded after rain).
11:30 Approaching Ovil Hill cutting, the largest cutting on the entire scheme where excavation has been underway for almost a year.
12:35 Passing Foreglen GAA ground.
13:20 Structure to carry Altagarran Road beneath the new A6 now complete and being backfilled to create the embankments on either side, especially visible beyond.
14:45 Passing Crock-na-brock Road.
16:10 Passing along a long, shallow cutting with a new accommodation laneway being built to the left.
17:40 Land to the left is not part of the scheme, so the contractor must have an arrangement with a landowner to use this field for storing spoil.
18:30 Road approaches existing A6 and runs alongside it for the next few kilometres at a lower elevation.
19:45 Approaching site of bridge that will carry Ballyhanedin Road over the new A6. Beyond this point the road will run to the left of the existing road, but earthworks have not yet begun.
21:00 Long stretch with earthworks yet to begin.
22:30 Works underway to construct the bridge that will carry Gortilea Road over the new road. The new road is still running parallel to the existing road at this point.
23:30 Resumption of earthworks.
26:20 Point where the new road will joint he existing A6. From here to near Drumahoe it will be an online upgrade. New route for the existing bit of the A6 that we've already passed is visible curving to the right ahead.
27:00 Future site of Claudy grade-separated junction. Traffic has been diverted to the right to facilitate construction of a new bridge that will carry the future dual-carriageway over the local road network here.
29:00 Excavation of soft material.
29:50 Passing contractor's site HQ (hello!) with road foundations well underway on the left.
30:50 Site of future Killaloo grade-separated junction. Approach embankment to the flyover over the new road is taking shape on the left.
33:50 Significant cutting will be made into the hill to the right of the A6 here, to accommodate the wider road. Site clearance already carried out.
35:40 Site of the Burntollet bridges. The "old" bridge, which probably dated to the 18th century (but not listed), was demolished during August. The "new" bridge, which dates to the 1950s, will soon be demolished too to make way for a much larger bridge. Environmental constraints including rivers and protected woodland make this the most confined part of the whole scheme.
36:20 Site of future cutting in hillside with land already cleared.
37:00 New local road (extension of Ervey Road) under construction on right to provide a link to Tamnaherin Road (ahead) for local traffic.
39:00 Site of future Tamnaherin grade-separated junction, with not much earthworks yet evident. At this point the new road swings offline again from the existing A6 (to the right) and is offline until its terminus at Drumahoe.
41:10 Site of future bridge over Liberty Glen, the longest bridge on the whole scheme.
42:05 Foundations in place for future accommodation overbridge, crossing cutting.
43:00 Terminus of scheme at Tirbracken Road in Drumahoe. The two carriageways diverge and will join a new roundabout. Works beyond Tirbracken Road ahead are for a new park-and-ride.
View west from the start of the scheme at Magherabuoy, east Dungiven, on 8 September 2019, showing the route of the future Dungiven Bypass snaking away to the left. [AerialVisionNI]
View east towards the start of the scheme in Dungiven, looking over the access road to Dungiven Priory (off frame to right). A cutting has recently been excavated in the foreground. The white lines are for drainage. 8 Sep 2019. [AerialVisionNI]
View of the A6 site heading west into the distance from Dungiven on 8 Sep 2019. [AerialVisionNI]
Work underway on the new park-and-ride at the terminus of the scheme on Tirbracken Road, Drumahoe (which is currently closed). [Dee Logue]
26 Jul 2019: The contractor has been enjoying some wonderful weather in recent weeks and taking full advantage of it. This update is to bring you some wonderful aerial done shots taken by AerialVisionNI and put up here with their permission. I've also included a couple of extracts from the design drawings to help you make sense of these views, which were taken at three different locations. You can find the original (higher-res) images here and here, including a couple I haven't put up here. Thank you to AerialVisionNI!
This is the view looking east across what will be the Killaloo grade-separated junction, serving the western end of Claudy village, on 23 July 2019. The image below shows the plan for this junction. The shape of the NE sliproad loop is clearly visible, as is the connection to the B74 Glenshane Road on the right. There will eventually be an bridge over the new dual-carriageway, which is an online upgrade here. [AerialVisionNI]
Plan of the completed Killaloo junction.
View west from the site of the Killaloo junction on 23 July 2019. The new road is an online upgrade along here. A bit of road history is evident in this picture. The road to the left of centre is the Glenshane Road, which was the main road to Derry until 1969. It was replaced by the Foreglen Road, the road to the right of centre, in the major upgrade of the A6 that took place between 1960 and 1975 that saw almost the entire route from Derry to Castledawson upgraded to a high quality single-carriageway standard. [AerialVisionNI]
The view north-east across the site of the Claudy junction of 23 July 2019. This is the point where the online upgrade (to the left/west of here) becomes an offline upgrade (to the right/east of here). That means that the current Foreglen Road east of here will remain in-situ after the new road opens, so a new link is being built here to connect it to the Baranailt Road, visible at the top of this picture. The image below shows the design for this junction, to help you get your bearings. The dual-carriageway will eventually pass over this junction on a large flyover with embankments on either side. [AerialVisionNI]
View west across the site of the Claudy junction on 23 July 2019, with the route of the new road clearly visible ahead. Although the new route strays slightly from the existing route at this point, the existing road will be removed, eventually leaving just the new road. [AerialVisionNI]
View west along the site of the future dual-carriageway from near Gortilea Road, east of Claudy, on 23 July 2019. The existing road will remain in situ here for local access, with the new road sitting at a lower elevation beside it. The concrete structure in the foreground is (I believe) a culvert to carry a stream under the new road. In three years there will be an eastbound layby just here, but a lot is to be done before that! [AerialVisionNI]
View east across Gortilea Road (the brown line going to the right, as the road is currently closed) on 23 July 2019. Again, the existing road will remain in situ here for local access, with the new road sitting at a lower elevation beside it. This difference in elevation will allow Gortilea Road to be comfortably carried over the new road on a bridge. No earthworks have yet taken place along the route just to the east of Gortilea Road, on the right here. [AerialVisionNI]
13 Jun 2019: The contractor has put up a magnificent drone video, over 40 minutes long, which takes the viewer along the entire length of this 30 km scheme. While the photos that I shared last month (below) are interesting, there is nothing that beats drone footage for getting an overview of a project. Many thanks to the contractor for putting up this video – I hope that they put up similar videos at intervals in the next three years as the project progresses. I have provided a brief commentary on the video below, for those who would find it useful. You may wish to open the video in a separate window and keep the commentary open beside it. Times refer to the points in the video where various things can be seen, in minutes and seconds.
0:00 The video begins at Dungiven and heads west. This first view shows the existing A6 Glenshane Road to the east of the town, which is the start of the scheme. A new roundabout, to be called Magherabuoy Roundabout, will be sited close to where the bare soil can be seen. The Dungiven Bypass component of the scheme will then head off cross-country to the left.
1:40 The new road passes Dungiven Priory.
3:00 The new road crosses Magheramore Road. There will be a bridge here but no access to the dual-carriageway.
5:00 Site of the future grade-separated junction at Feeny Road. There will be two pairs of looped sliproads, one to the lower left and one to the upper right, which can be seen in the shape of the fenced-off land. Travelling west this will be the last junction until Claudy, a full 8 miles to the west, making this the longest stretch of road with no junctions in Northern Ireland (the 6.4 mile stretch of the M1 from j8 to j9 is the current record holder). From here until Claudy the road runs generally offline to the south of the current road.
5:30 Passing Owenbeg GAA ground.
6:20 Temporary bailey bridge for construction traffic. Foreglen village visible on the right.
8:10 Road crosses Derrychrier Road, still running offline. The existing A6 will remain in use as a local road.
10:20 Road crosses Killunaght Road.
12:00 Ovil Hill cutting, the largest earthwork on the entire scheme. To provide stability, the banks will be formed into three terraces. This cutting is providing a huge amount of rock for the scheme, minimising the amount of quarried rock that needs to be brought in from elsewhere. This rock is being graded and sorted here – you can see a long line of light grey rock in the cutting. This is thousands of tonnes of processed rock being stored here until it is needed.
13:40 New underpass that will carry Altagarron Road beneath the new dual-carriageway. You can also see a new concrete accommodation road on the left (to provide agricultural access).
14:00 Area of peat that has to be dug out and replaced with harder material to support the new road.
17:00 Long offline section to the south of the existing road. Topsoil removal and some earthworks have been completed.
18:20 Nearby land being used by the contractor for deposition and storage of material.
20:00 Approaching Ballyhanedin Road, which will pass over the new road on a bridge, yet to be built. The new road runs parallel and very close to the existing A6 along here, but at a lower elevation. The existing A6 will remain in situ here for local access.
21:30 One of the stretches where no work has yet taken place.
22:50 Approaching Gortilea Road, which will be bridged over the new road. The new road is still running parallel to the existing road here.
24:00 Future accommodation underpass being built, for agricultural access. The new road will eventually run over the top of it. The contractor is building some structures, like this one, in isolation as time permits in order to maximise the efficient spread of resources across the four-year duration of the project.
25:30 Another long stretch where work has yet to begin.
26:30 Approaching the future Claudy junction at Baranailt Road. From this point on the new road subsumes the existing A6 which we refer to as an "online" upgrade. The new road here will be built up on an embankment and bridged over Baranailt Road.
27:10 Site of the future bridge over Baranailt Road. Work has yet to begin, but the footprint of the sliproads is evident in the fence lines.
30:40 Gulf Road, where there will be another grade-separated junction to be known as Killaloo junction. Gulf Road will be bridged over the new road at this point, which is running online.
32:30 The junction visible here, plus the next one on the right, will both be stopped-up, with no access to the upgraded A6.
33:20 Passing Cumber Presbyterian Church. Due to the tight curve of the existing road, and the steep Faughan river valley to the left, the new road will require cutting into the hill on the right-hand edge of the current road. The lay-by on the left marks the route of the A6 prior to the previous (1960s) upgrade. It will be removed.
35:30 Burntollet bridges (old and new), one of the most constricted points in the whole project. The limitations imposed by the protected river and woodlands on either side mean that the new road has to pass directly over (and replace) both of the existing bridges.
36:10 Land clearance for a new cutting in the side of the hill to accommodate the new, wider road.
38:00 Land being cleared on the right is for a new stretch of local road to connect Ervey Road to Tamnaherin Road, parallel to the new road, to preserve local access.
39:00 Future site of Tamnaherin Road grade-separated junction. At this point the new road diverges from the existing A6 to the right and becomes an "offline" upgrade again. The new dual-carriageway will be built up on an embankment here and bridged over the junction. The steep incline to the left, not that obvious in the aerial view, makes the planning of the temporary traffic management here a real headache. The loop of road to the left up ahead will be removed, with the new road taking a more gentle line to the right.
41:10 Route of the new road heading away from the current A6 close to the Belfray Inn. At this point it has to cross Liberty Glen, a steep stream-carved valley, which will require a significant bridge almost 200 metres long, the longest on the entire scheme.
43:00 The "temporary" terminus of the scheme at Tirbracken Road in Drumahoe. The plan is that the road will eventually be continued to the A2 Maydown Road, but will stop here for now. The two sliproads will be built, but not the bridge over Tirbracken Road. This is likely to become a traffic bottleneck once the road is finished – though the time lost here is likely to be more than offset by the time gained from the 30 km of new dual-carriageway from Dungiven, not to mention the significant safety improvements.
20 May 2019: Last week I was honoured to be invited up to the site by the contractor (Sacyr, Wills Bros and Somague consortium) and was given a guided tour of the whole length of the scheme, from Drumahoe to Dungiven. From the point of view of the road user, there are long stretches of the scheme where little seems to be happening other than site clearance. However, having seen the scheme up close it is clear that a lot of heavy earthworks and engineering are happening, but in many cases in places which are not easily visible from the current road. A lot of staff were evident all over the scheme, a good proportion of whom seem to be from the local area. The biggest single earthwork so far is the huge cutting through Ovil Hill near Foreglen. Work here has been progressing for some months now. One reason it is happening now is that the contractor is extracting a lot of good stone from the cut which is being sorted and sized and stored for use elsewhere on the scheme. Re-using rock in this way means that very little stone will have to be brought in from quarries, thus reducing the overall environmental impact of the scheme. Earthworks are also underway at various points on the scheme including at the Drumahoe end where the embankments for the off- and on-slips to the terminal Lismacarol Roundabout are now in place. On the offline stretch from Claudy to Dungiven earthworks are underway at various points, including cut-and-fill operations (where soft or low-quality material is dug out and replaced with higher-quality material suitable for building on), and further cuttings and embankments. Some concrete structures are also underway, including a box structure that will take Altagarron Road beneath the new dual-carriageway and a new agricultural underpass near Claudy. Further site clearance work has also been taking place on what will be the Dungiven Bypass. We are still three years away from anticipated completion, but so far a lot of work has taken place on what is the largest single road project ever undertaken in Northern Ireland. Thank you to the contractor for a most enjoyable visit. I include a number of photographs below.
Pic 1: At the start of the scheme at Drumahoe, the dual-carriageway will commence at a Lismacarol Roundabout to be located on Tirbracken Road. The future plan is to extend the new road over the roundabout towards Maydown, but for now the two carriageways are going to terminate on the future sliproads. This is the view towards the site of the future roundabout on Tirbacken Road from what will be the eastbound onslip. The future westbound offslip will be located near the bank visible on the extreme left. The flat area in between will be left clear for the future extension of the dual-carriageway. 15 May 2019 [Wesley Johnston]
Pic 2: This is the view south east along the route of the future road near The Cross (Belfray Inn area) on 15 May 2019. The road runs offline here, with the existing A6 on the right to remain in-situ for local access. The large depression ahead of the camera is Liberty Glen, which will eventually be spanned by a large (approx 200 metre long) bridge. [Wesley Johnston]
Pic 3: This is the view of Liberty Glen looking north-east from the existing A6 on 15 May 2019. Pic 2 was taken from the large mound visible on the extreme left. The new dual-carriageway will cross the glen on a new bridge across the centre of the shot here. [Wesley Johnston]
Pic 4: Moving to Burntollet, one of the most constricted parts of the whole scheme, this is the existing A6 bridge as seen on 15 May 2019. This bridge will be demolished, along with the adjacent older bridge, and replaced with a much wider structure which will also be about three metres higher than the current bridge. When this bridge was built in the mid 20th century, the river beneath was straightened and lined with concrete walls. This is no longer regarded as environmentally good practice, so the new bridge will also involve removing all the concrete visible here and restoring a more natural earth riverbank along with a new pedestrian path. [Wesley Johnston]
Pic 5: Moving much further east, to the area just east of Claudy, this is a new agricultural underpass being built to take a farm lane beneath the new dual-carriageway. At this point the new road will run adjacent to the existing road (which in this shot runs left-right beyond the trees), which will remain in-situ. 15 May 2019 [Wesley Johnston]
Pic 6: Slightly further east than pic 5, this is the view east along the route of the new road as seen from Ballyhanedin Road on 15 May 2019. The topsoil has been cleared here and earthworks are underway. The current A6, on the left, will remain in place for local traffic while the new road will run at a lower elevation beside it. Ballyhanedin Road will eventually be carried over the new road on a bridge to be sited just ahead. [Wesley Johnston]
Pic 7: Near the village of Foreglen, Altagarron Road is going to remain in place, but is currently closed to allow the construction of this new box structure, which is big enough to carry two double-decker buses. The future dual-carriageway will run over the top of this structure at an oblique angle while Altagarron Road will pass through it. This view is looking south-west. 15 May 2019 [Wesley Johnston]
Pic 8: Just east of Foreglen the dual-carriageway passes through Ovil Hill which requires an enormous cutting, work on which is now well underway. This view shows one of several excavators busy removing rocks which have been loosened by explosives. Although this is a very large cutting, it is yielding an enormous quantity of good quality rock which is going to be sorted and used elsewhere on the scheme. This means that very little rock needs to be imported from quarries elsewhere, greatly reducing the overall environmental impact of the scheme. 15 May 2019 [Wesley Johnston]
Pic 9: Another view of the Ovil Hill cutting taking shape on 15 May 2019, looking west. The material on the right is rock that has been removed from the cutting and has been sorted by size and is now being stored to await use elsewhere on the project. If you drive through here in three years time, reflect on the effort that it has taken to create this cutting! [Wesley Johnston]
Pic 10: Moving now to the Dungiven Bypass element of the scheme, this is the view east from near Feeny Road on 15 May 2019. There will be a grade-separated junction on Feeny Road giving access to Dungiven from the west. The road will travel in a shallow cutting here, which has already been excavated. Note the temporary drainage channel on the left. These channels are equipped with structures designed to filter out silt so that it doesn't make its way into local watercourses during construction. [Wesley Johnston]
Pic 11: This final view shows the view east from Teeavan Road, Dungiven, on 15 May 2019. The earthworks are well underway here. The new road will be carried over the river in the depression just ahead on a bridge, before entering a cutting beyond which will carry the road to its terminus at a new roundabout on the current A6 just east of Dungiven (Magherabuoy roundabout). [Wesley Johnston]
24 Mar 2019: In the last update I commented on the difficulty of getting info on this scheme, but since my previous update the contractor has updated their web site. The contractor confirms that site clearance has now been completed on the entire scheme except for an area in an area in Brackfield and Burntollet. Fencing works have also taken place in the past few weeks on between Tamnaherin and Gortilea; between Ballyhaedin and Munreery; from Feeny Road to Dungiven and near Claudy towards Burntollet. Utility diversions along the route are partially completed with some still to be carried out. Earthworks are underway at Drumahoe, Foreglen, Munreery and Derrychrier and these are for three public road bridges (Gortilea overbridge, Ballyhanedin overbridge and Altagarron underbridge) and one accommodation bridge underbridge. By the end of March temporary bridges over the Owenbeg and Owenrigh Rivers will be completed, presumably to provide site access for the contractor. Finally, access tracks are being built between Killunaght and Ovil Hill and Feeny towards Dungiven and Munreery. Again these are probably for the contractor to gain access to the site. The update also contains a video – I can't get it to play on my computer, but have a look as it might work on yours!
6 Mar 2019: Work has been undereay on this scheme now for six months, but it is extremely difficult to get information on progress. The contractor has a web site at https://a6d2d.com but it is not being updated frequently or in any useful detail, with the last construction update being posted almost three months ago. This requires us to instead depend on the observations of local people on Twitter, which are proving much more useful, especially Paul McCloskey whose pictures I include below with his permission. As far as I can ascertain, work seems to be taking place at Drumahoe park-and-ride site; on a major cutting south of of Foreglen and on the Dungiven Bypass section, shown in the photos below. Work also seems to be taking place at various points along the online stretch at the Derry end of the scheme, between Claudy and Tamnaherin Road past Burntollet. The whole scheme is due to be completed three years from now, in spring 2022.
Pic 1 - View of the future A6 Dungiven Bypass seen looking west from the junction of Magheramore Road and Teeavan Road on 3 March 2019, showing both earthworks and what appears to be watercourse diversions. [Paul McCloskey]
Pic 2 - Zoomed in version of the previous photo, showing the future A6 Dungiven Bypass with watercourse works underway and other earthworks in the distance on 3 March 2019. [Paul McCloskey]
Pic 3 - View east along the route of the future A6 Dungiven Bypass seen from the junction of Magheramore Road and Teeavan Road (ie the same location as above but turned 180° round) on 3 March 2019. A cutting will be excavated here. [Paul McCloskey]
16 Jan 2019: Work is underway again after the Christmas break. According to the contractor, the work before Christmas focused on fencing along the route of the road and on the necessary environmental surveys along the route. This means that site clearance works have not yet commenced on much of the route. Works carried out before Christmas also included culverts at Foreglen and Drumahoe, and the installation of temporary bailey bridges over the Owenbeg and Owenrigh rivers to faciliate construction traffic. More significant earthworks are underway at Foreglen, and these can be seen in this YouTube video posted by the contractor three weeks ago. It shows works commencing on the route of the new road above Foreglen GAA club (visible at 1:10). The strip of gravel seen here is on the route of the new dual-carriageway. However, its narrow width suggests that at this stage this gravel is intended to faciliate the movement of construction traffic, rather than being the foundation of the future road. At 1:30 the camera swings round to show diggers working at an excavation. This is the beginning of a much larger cutting that needs to be made in the hillside here. The contractor is starting earthworks at this point and intends to work westwards, ie towards Claudy. With work having now been underway for about four months here's hoping that we see further movement on the ground before too long.
11 Nov 2018: Slowly but surely work appears to be progressing on this scheme and utility diversions (relocating pipes, cables etc) and earthworks have now started. Earthworks appear to be underway at both Foreglen, around half way along the road, and at the western terminus of the scheme at Tirbracken Road in Drumahoe. The works at Foreglen have required the closure of two local road (Crock na Brock Road and Altagarron Road) because a bridge is due to be constructed at that location. The material at the location (peat) is too soft for a bridge, so these initial works involve removing the soft material and the two local roads cross over the site and will be closed for about six months. At the Dungiven end, the contractor has constucted a temporary diversion for the B74 Feeny Road in the locality of the future Dungiven West grade-separated junction. This is presumably to allow the junction to be constructed on the site of the current road. According to the contractor, the next two weeks will see geotechnical works taking place at various points along the western part of the scheme which is to be an online upgrade of the current road. Geotechnical works are essentially to determine the exact nature of the material that lies under the ground and informs detailed design decisions. With thanks to Paul McCloskey for information on the scheme.
6 Oct 2018: The official 'sod-cutting' ceremony took place on the scheme on 26 September (photo 1 below). There is still not much to see on the scheme with the exception of an area around Foreglen where substantial earthworks now appear to be underway (photo 2 below). Motorists are likely to see work progressively ramping up all along the 25 km route over the autumn and winter months, with the initial focus probably being on earthworks (cuttings and embankments) and construction of new culverts for watercourses. Work on the Dungiven Bypass itself will apparently be phased later in the schedule, so may not begin straight away. Nevertheless, a site yard also seems to have been established at Magheramore Road just outside Dungiven. With thanks to Paul McCloskey for information on progress and photos.
Photo 1: Causeway Coast and Glens Mayor Brenda Chivers, Northern Divisional Roads Manager David Porter and Derry City and Strabane Deputy Mayor Derek Hussey cut the first sod on construction of the A6 Dungiven to Drumahoe [DFI]
Photo 2: Earthworks underway at Foreglen on 28 Sep 2018. [Paul McCloskey]
18 Sep 2018: Earthworks didn't seem to start in August as the grapevine had suggested, but road users need not be concerned - I now understand that there is to be a sod-cutting ceremony within the next week or so (possibly 26th September). Since the contract was awarded six months ago detailed design work has been taking place. This is a substantial piece of work, involving site surveys all along the scheme to determine things like the exact depth to bedrock, earth composition etc. In addition, further environmental surveys have been taking place. Fencing off the land that has been vested for the scheme is a huge task - the scheme is 30 km long - and as a consequence the process of fencing is going to take until April 2019 to complete. A public consultation (by the contractor, not DFI Roads) took place at the end of June to inform landowners about things like phasing. You can see the panels here. While this also suggested that work would begin in August, it states that "sections" of the new road would be open by Autumn 2021, with overall completion in Spring 2022. I'm told that advanced works have been taking place near Foreglen and also near the site of the future Magherabuoy roundabout in Dungiven. These may be site yards in development. With thanks to the ever-vigilant Paul McCloskey for information on the works to far.
21 Jul 2018: Still nothing much evident on the ground, but things are moving fairly quickly towards earthworks finally getting underway on this scheme. Environmental walkover work has been taking place since the contractor was appointed in March, as well as detailed ground investigation works that will facilitate the detailed design (questions like "So, exactly how far below the ground is the bedrock at the eastern abutment of the bridge?"). The word on the street is that construction work is going to begin in mid August with the creation of a site yard at Feeny Road near Dungiven with construction due to begin there first. After that work will take around three to four years to complete. It's possible that sections of the road, eg the Dungiven Bypass, may be opened earlier than this. The contractor has also followed recent good practice and set up a dedicated web site for the scheme at http://a6d2d.com. The contractor has also put up a video on YouTube that consists of a joint fly-through/drive-through of the whole road. If the road seems a bit like a rollercoaster it's because the virtual car is travelling at about 180mph in order to cover the length of the scheme in the 6 minutes of the video!
24 Jun 2018: I spoke to an engineer recently who is working on this scheme and he confirmed that detailed design work is underway as we thought. The word on the street is that construction earthworks may begin during July, though that has not been confirmed officially. As I said in the previous update, the first visible step will be for the contractor to establish site yards at various points along the site. Once that happens, the bulldozers will follow fairly soon. Meanwhile, DFI are holding information events this week as follows: Wednesday 27 June 12pm-8pm in Owenbeg GAA Club, 471 Foreglen Road, Dungiven, BT47 7PW; and Thursday 28 June 12pm-8pm in The Belfray Country Inn, 171 Glenshane Road, Derry, BT47 3EN. The events are mainly intended to allow affected landowners to find out more about the timetable of works and when their land, specifically, will be affected. However, all members of the public are invited to turn up to find out more about the scheme and have their questions answered.
3 Apr 2018: The DFI awarded the construction contract for phase 1 (25.5 km from Dungiven to Drumahoe, ie the bulk of the scheme) on 28 March 2018. The contractor is a consortium of Sacyr, Wills Bros and Somague (congratulations to them). These companies hail from Spain, Rep of Ireland and Portugal respectively and have not been much involved in road building in Northern Ireland hitherto. The total cost of phase 1 of the project is given as £220m (a bit less than the last estimate), which includes both the construction cost and the cost of buying the necessary land. The cost may not include the planning work that has taken place over the past 13 years since the scheme was first announced, so this may not represent the overall cost of the scheme. The status of phase 2, essentially a bypass of the Waterside in Derry, is less clear since the route is affected by an illegal landfill whose status is still unresolved. It would not entirely suprise me if phase 2 never gets built as it will become much less of a priority once phase 1 has opened and may struggle to get to the head of the queue for future funding. In any case, I've marked the scheme as "underway" even though proper construction has not yet begun (work visible to date is part of a separate site clearance contract). This is for two reasons. Firstly, it will take a number of weeks for the contractor to mobilise their resources and appoint subcontractors for a scheme of this size, and secondly the contract includes an element of final design work which will need done first. The first signs I would expect to see are the provision of site yards at various points along the route, followed by the arrival of heavy plant equipment and then the commencement of earthworks. Work is due to take approximately four years, so we could expect to see completion during 2022. To clarify - this scheme will see 25.5 km of dual-carriageway built east from Derry, which compliments the separate stretch of new dual-carriageway under construction on the A6 west from Randalstown to Toome. A number of people have asked what is happening to the gap that will remain in the middle, ie the long stretch of single-carriageway from Castledawson to Dungiven via Glenshane Pass. The answer is that DFI currently have no plans to dual this stretch, which is currently the stretch with the lowest traffic levels on the A6. However, there is strong symbolism associated with having continuous dual-carriageways between our two largest cities, so the pressure to plan an upgrade of this stretch will likely be sustained.
13 Mar 2018: The design-and-build construction tender has not yet been awarded, although it is now over a year since it was advertised. The word on the street is that the contractor will be appointed within the next few weeks which could see construction work commence before the summer, depending on how much final design work needs to be done (finalising the design is part of the construction contract). The Vesting order was "made" on 15 August last year, and ownership of the land formally transferred to DFI on 19 September. Meanwhile, an advance siteworks contract has been underway since late last year. This primarily involves vegetation clearance, since trees must be felled by 1 March, the start of the bird nesting season. The photos below show examples of this work. It is most noticeable on the western half of the scheme, between Claudy and Drumahoe, perhaps because this section is to be built as an online upgrade of the existing road. The eastern part, from Claudy to Dungiven, is generally offline and hence not as immediately obvious from the current A6. Archaeological surveys are also underway and geotechnical and ecological surveys have been completed. The scheme will run from Dungiven (including a bypass of the town) to Drumahoe, with the "Waterside Bypass" stretch at the Derry end to be built at an undefined point in the future. The total cost of this phase will be £230-255m and will take "up to four years" to complete, so we could expect to see completion during 2022. This will therefore be the most expensive single road scheme ever undertaken in Northern Ireland (not counting the A5 which has yet to commence), the previous record holder being the 2010 A1 Newry Bypass at £165m. I am very grateful that so many people have emailed and tweeted me with updates on the works along this stretch. There is a real sense of anticipation - it is clearly an exciting time for the North West.
Vegetation clearance underway on the A6 at Tamnaherin Road, about 2 miles outside Derry. The house visible ahead will also be demolished for the new road which will run roughly where the photographer is standing. 19 Feb 2018. [Anonymous contributor]
Same location as previously, but looking east showing vegetation clearance well advanced at Tamnaherin Road on 19 Feb 2018. At this point, the current road (on the right) will be subsumed by the new dual-carriageway. [Anonymous contributor].
At the opposite end of the scheme this view shows egetation clearance well advanced at Magherabuoy, Dungiven, where the new dual-carriageway will terminate at a roundabout. 12 Mar 2018. [Paul McCloskey]
5 Sep 2017: With all the publicity being stolen by the other end of the A6 at Toome and its legal difficulties, this scheme from Derry to Dungiven has been quietly advancing to the point of being not too far off commencement. The tender has now been out for over 7 months, so I would expect to see a contractor appointed before the end of 2017. For clarity, the tender is for the stretch of the A6 from Drumahoe to Dungiven only, including the Dungiven Bypass but NOT including the "Waterside Bypass" stretch from Drumahoe to the A2 at Gransha. The reason for this hasn't been widely discussed, but is likely to be related to the unresolved illegal dump at Mobuoy Road, which the route of the new road traverses, and perhaps also the potential for some money to be freed up in the short term by the delayed stretch of the A6 west of Toome. On 15 August 2017 DFI "made" the Vesting Order for the scheme. The Vesting Order is the legal document that transfers ownership of the required land to DFI (an independent body deciding the compensation due to landowners). It exists in draft form throughout the public inquiry stage so that all those affected can see what is proposed, but the act of "making" the Vesting Order is the moment it is triggered and ownership actually changes hands. Since doing this will immediately generate a lot of large bills for DFI, they would not do this until they were confident that work was going to commence in the short term. So this suggests that they are going to begin work soon, perhaps earlier than my previously predicted date of 2019. The scheme has already got at least a partial funding allocation - enough to begin, anyway - and hence commencement does not depend on the existence of an Executive. (Incidentally, it is surely not a coincidence that the Vesting Order was made on the same day as the A6 Toome legal hearing - perhaps DFI trying to make sure that there was at least some good news for the A6 on that date.) Finally, DFI have released a new document for the general public detailing what is being proposed. This includes an image showing how the "temporary" (!!!) terminus at Drumahoe will look, and also revealing that it is to be known as "Lismacarol Roundabout". Lismacarol could well become the Broadway or Sandyknowes of the North West, so expect to hear the name mentioned a lot in traffic reports in the coming years. At the other end, we now know that the roundabout east of Dungiven is to be known as "Magherabuoy Roundabout".
How the "temporary" terminus of the A6 at Drumahoe will look. [DFI Roads]
26 Feb 2017: The tender for design and construction of the bulk of this scheme was advertised on Tuesday, 21 February. The tender specifices the stretch from "Dungiven to Drumahoe" including the Dungiven Bypass, so in the strip map above that's everything from the new "Dungiven East" roundabout up to the "Drumahoe" grade-separated junction, ie only omitting the bypass of the Waterside and connection to the A2 at Gransha. The tender specifices "four" grade-separated junctions which implies that the Drumahoe junction will be built as an at-grade roundabout without bridges and sliproads. If so, that makes sense as in Northern Ireland we already have far too many untidy, unfinished junctions without adding yet another one. The value given is £160m (which doesn't include design work to date or purchase of land). That still seems an optimistically low figure to me, but given that the engineers in DFI know what they are doing I am willing to suspend disbelief on this for the time being! Duration is given as 36 months which I would consider normal for construction of a road of this complexity in Northern Ireland. One cannot ignore the timing of this tender release, which has come just over a week before an Assembly election, but it also has to be said that it is entirely consistent with the recent history of this scheme which has got a (partial) budget allocation and has for some time looked likely to commence on the ground by around 2019. The tender is probably a "design and build" tender with a split between the two, so even if a contractor is appointed they will still have a lot of work to do to complete a detailed design, and there is no guarantee from a contractural standpoint that the road will be built. But this is still probably the closest we have come to getting a bypass of Dungiven for several decades. Provided it doesn't get delayed by a legal challenge from environmentalists, as has happened on the A5 and the eastern poortion of the A6, commencement around 2019 and completion around 2022 seems quite plausible.
8 Feb 2017: In December 2015 the two A6 schemes (this one, plus the Randalstown-Castledawson scheme) were given a total cash allocation of £258m for the five years up to 2020/21. Since we know that the Randalstown scheme is currently estimated to cost £160m (in August 2016) that leaves a surplus of £98m that could be used for this scheme. The total cost of this scheme was last stated to be £390-420m in 2014. So the funding allocated up to 2020/21 is enough to build about a quarter of the scheme. That could still allow work to begin close to the end of that time period, on the assumption that further funds would be made available beyond 2020/21. However, the Minister has consistently suggested that the scheme is likely to be broken into sections and built as money is available, and that work would begin at the Dungiven end and work towards Derry. For the past year the question has been how much of the road could be built in the first phase. Given that the road has passed its public inquiry and is now simply awaiting funding and a contractor, work on the first phase could begin as soon as those two items could be put in place. With that in mind, this week a construciton tender appeared on the DFI's "future tender" list for a scheme called "A6 Londonderry to Dungiven Dualling (Phase 1, Drumahoe to Dungiven)" which is for "25.5km" of dual-carriageway with a total cost of £150-170m and a tender release date of February 2017. This suggests that the plan is to build everything except for the 5.3km "Waterside bypass" stretch at the Derry end, which coincidentally is home to the notorious Mobuoy Road illegal dumping site that the route of the road traverses. Three points need to be made about this. Firstly, the timing of the tender release in the final weeks of the current Executive is surely not a coincidence. I get the impression that the current Minister is very keen to make sure this scheme is progressed as far as possible before he loses his job prior to the election. Secondly, the cost of the scheme is greater than the amount of money actually approved by the Executive for the A6 up to 2020/21. When I asked one of the Minister's advisors about this point (see this Tweet and replies) he confirmed that discussions had taken place behind the schenes about getting further funding, but that nothing had actually been approved by the Executive. So I would say IF the election results in a new Executive being successfully formed, and IF Sinn Fein are as influential in that one as they are in the current one, then such funding could well be forthcoming. But that's something we can't say until we see the election result and whether the DUP and Sinn Fein can resolve what looks like a significant rift. Thirdly, the tender value of £150-170m seems low to me for over 25 km of dual-carriageway. Even taking account of the fact that this is the construction cost, and does not include design and land costs, it still seems quite optimistic to me that that much road could be built for £170m. The tender represents over 80% of a scheme whose total cost (including design and land) was estimated in December 2014 to be £390-420m. But I imagine the folks at TransportNI know what they are doing so we shall have to wait and see. Barring a major change to the functioning of Stormont, it is quite plausible that work on this scheme will begin by the 2019/20 financial year as I have said in previous updates.
19 Oct 2016: It has been eight months since I updated this page, mainly because very little has publicly been said about it. We know that the Minister has enough money over the next four years to proceed with some, but not all, of this scheme (about 30% of the required funds are available up to 2020/21). He has already said that he intends to go ahead with the Dungiven Bypass, probably around 2019, and thereafter to work west towards Derry as far as possible from there, but that the extent of this will depend on how much can be built with the money available. There is due to be an autumn budget statement within the next month or so that could potentially make some more money available for this scheme, but that is by no means certain. In a Written Answer in the Assembly in late September (AQW 2761/16-21) the Minister said "Work is underway to determine the extent of the A6 Derry to Dungiven Dualling scheme that can be delivered within the 2015 Budget Statement allocations, with priority being given to commencing construction with a bypass of Dungiven and progressing westwards towards Drumahoe" which has been the official line since Michelle McIlveen was Minister. However, in a Written Answer in July (AQW 1095/16-21) the Minister did note that "in May of this year [2016] my Department appointed consultants to assist with the procurement and delivery of this scheme" which was around the time he became Minister and seems to represent some concrete intention. Meanwhile, the Department for Infrastructure's Business Plan was published last week, and it gives some further guidance on when we might know more. It states a goal to "Develop and agree the procurement strategy" for this scheme and sets a target for March 2017. I would take "procurement strategy" to be offical speak for "figure out how much money we have, what we can built with it and when". So on the basis of all the above I think we might have some more information at the time of the autumn statement, and then further clarity by the Spring of next year.
The only other outstanding issue is the Mobuoy Road controversy, basically where a huge amount of illegally dumped waste was found buried along a short part the route of the road at the Derry end. This will need dealt with before work can begin, not least because it was placed there illegally, but also for practical reasons, in that the proposed road is in a cutting at the point in question. Responsibility ultimately lies with DAERA, not the DfI, but it is still an issue for DfI as it directly affects the A6 scheme. In a Written Answer in July (AQW 394/16-21) the Minister explained that "Discussions remain ongoing with the DAERA which is currently considering the management of the site and long-term options for remedial measures. My Department's TransportNI will align any proposed works with any potential remediation solutions." He also noted that "I am content that, should the contamination issue remain unresolved when the A6 dualling is being constructed, cost effective measures can be deployed to remedy the undesirable effects of the waste."
24 Feb 2016: The DRD has finally published its Departmental Statement into this project. After the road has been planned and designed, it is usually put to a public inquiry. For this scheme that happened in September/October 2012. After that, the Inspector writes a report with recommendations in it and gives it to the DRD. This happened around March 2013. The DRD then study the recommendations and, when they are happy that they have dealt with every issue, publish their response - this is the "Departmental Statement" which was issued today along with the Inspector's Report after almost three years. Why is the Departmental Statement significant? Because, while the road has been in planning for years, this is the moment when the decision to proceed is formally (legally) taken. All that needs to happen now is that funding is allocated to the road and a contractor has to be appointed through a tendering process. This is the complication - there is currently no formal funding allocation, though the Executive did allocate funding for the next five years to the A6 generally in December. Rather than repeating myself, I invite you to read the 20 December update below for the implications of this. Suffice to say that lack of funding for the whole scheme means it will probably not happen at once - the Dungiven Bypass will likely be constructed first, along with a bit more - and the wording of the Minister's press release suggests that the most likely stretch is a section immediately to the west of Dungiven, perhaps as far as Claudy (her wording was "It is envisaged that priority will be given to construction from Dungiven towards Londonderry"). But this has yet to be confirmed. The Inspector's Report largely accepts the DRD's proposals for the road, including the route for the Dungiven Bypass which caused so much controversy at the Inquiry. This route was also backed up by the DRD's subsequent research and that of an independent consultant who then checked the DRD's work. So the scheme will be going ahead largely as planned.
29 Jan 2016: In the previous updted I reiterated that there seems to be enough money to build some, but not all, of this scheme over the next five years. The assumption is that the Dungiven Bypass will go ahead, but there seems to be money to build a bit more than that. So the question is, what will be built? In a Writtern Answer in the Assembly this week (AQW 52772/11-16), the Minister said TransportNI "are currently reviewing the extent of this scheme which can be built with the funding allocations in the December 2015 Budget Statement.
Once I have received these reports and considered them in full, I will make a decision on how the scheme should proceed." So basically the engineers are working to answer this very question. There are various possibilities (eg all of Dungiven-Claudy; or perhaps Dungiven plus the Waterside "bypass" at the Derry end) but with so many options I'm not prepared to put my money on any particular variation just now! But she finished with the clearest indication yet that the Dungiven Bypass will be going ahead after half a century of waiting, saying "allocations for the 2017/18 – 2020/21 period will allow my Department to construct elements of the A6 Londonderry to Dungiven dualling scheme, which includes a bypass of Dungiven". Assuming it does go ahead, I think we're still perhaps three years away from construction starting on the Dungiven Bypass which I estimate could start in the 2019/20 financial year. Nothing is certain until the bulldozers move in, but it's looking promising.
11 Jan 2016: In my post a month ago (9 Dec, below) I expressed frustration with the time it has taken for the DRD to publish its response to the Public Inquiry, the report of which they received almost three years ago. I also gave some possible reasons. The DRD Minister was explicitly asked this question in the Assembly today, and she was adamant that the delay is the first of the three reasons I gave, namely ongoing work assessing alternative routes around Dungiven. It is worth quoting her at length. She said "One of the inspector's recommendations was that an alternative route for the Dungiven bypass be considered in sufficient detail to allow an informed comparison to be made between it and my Department's published route. Transport NI's project consultant subsequently reviewed the alternative route, and its findings endorsed my Department's published route. However, there was a view that that was not sufficiently independent and may not have given the alternative route a fair consideration, so an independent review of the alternative route was commissioned by my Department and has now been completed. Reports have been prepared outlining the findings of the review and addressing the other recommendations arising from the public inquiry. Once I have received those reports — I have not as yet — and get the opportunity, I will consider them in full and make a decision on how the scheme should proceed after that." There is no reason not to take this at face value, though I still think that the other two reasons I gave are probably also playing a role. Meanwhile, in the previous update (20 Dec, below) I commented about the implications of recent funding allocations for this scheme. I noted that there seemed to be enough money to build some, but not all, of this scheme over the next five years and this assessment was confirmed in the Assembly today when the Minister said the DRD "are reviewing the extent of the scheme which can be built with the funding allocations in the December 2015 Budget statement". It could be that they decide to progress the Dungiven Bypass alone, as I suggested below, but it may be that they decide to build a bit more, for example the whole bit from the Dungiven Bypass to Claudy. It sounds as if the Minister will be making an announcement on this in due course, though probably not in the immediate future.
20 Dec 2015: Three days ago the Finance Minister delivered her budget for the next financial year. This budget included funding of £21m in the 2016/17 financial year (April to March) for the A6 and also committed £57m, £60m, £60m and £60m for the following four years. Now, let's clarify that there are currently TWO A6 schemes - Derry to Dungiven, and Randalstown to Castledawson. The cash allocated is likely to mean the other A6 scheme, the one to build a dual-carriageway from Randalstown to Castledawson, is likely to go ahead around April 2016. That scheme is estimated to cost £140m, so the first three years of the aforementioned cash allocation should cover this. That means that there is still £120m allocated to the A6 for the final two years, and that could only be spent on this A6 scheme. I have blogged my thoughts on this in more detail here, but the bottom line is that I think we could see the A6 Dungiven Bypass detached from the main scheme and work get underway during the 2019/20 financial year. I need to stress that this is my own estimate - the DRD have not said anything about timescales for any of these schemes. The total estimated cost of the A6 Derry-Dungiven scheme is £420m, and the cash allocation above is much too low to allow all this to be built, but the cost of the Dungiven Bypass portion alone is only £65m, which is LESS than the £120m allocated for the last two of the next five years. So it's possible that the intention is to start the ENTIRE Derry-Dungiven scheme in 2019, and carry on beyond the five year period mentioned in the budget with further funding allocations at that time, or possibly before. But we shall see. For now, I think there's a reasonable chance that we're within three to four years of work beginning on the Dungiven Bypass.
9 Dec 2015: This scheme is still deafening in its silence. The Public Inquiry happened in autumn 2012 and it is now almost three years since the Inspector submitted his report to the DRD, and almost two years since the Minister said that he would be publishing the DRD's response (the Departmental Statement) shortly (see update 10 Feb 2014 below). It is inconceivable that it has taken the DRD three years to digest the report, so there must be something else holding it up. Some possibilities are (a) Consideration of the "alternative route in the vicinity of Dungiven" that the DRD keep alluding to when asked what is happening. Although the Inspector's report has not been published, it seems to have recommended consideration of an alternative route. It's possible, though I think unlikely, that consideration of this alternative route is taking this long. (b) That the scheme is being held up by political and financial considerations. The Executive has had conflicting priorities on road building due to insufficient cash to build everything desired, and both the A5 and York Street Interchange have seemed to be higher priorities in the Executive. The Minister may have been working on the basis that not publishing the Departmental Statement effectively parks the project and avoids questions about timescales getting more awkward. (c) The Mobuoy Road controversy. In June 2013 a large illegal landfill site was discovered at Mobuoy Road, near Londonderry with about 1.5 million tonnes of illegal waste in it. The site has still not been dealt with. It impacts on this scheme since part of the site is to be purchased by the DRD to build the A6 dual-carriageway (which would be in a cutting through much of the area in question), but also for flood control measures and some local road realignments. The scheme design was developed prior to the discovery of the site and so it did not take the illegal landfill into consideration. Although the DRD are adamant that the illegal landfill will not affect the project, it inevitably will because the site will have to be decontaminated in some shape or form before the road can be built. It's possible that delaying this project avoids this becoming a more toxic (excuse the pun) issue. Finally, while the DRD Minister did comment back in September 2014 that he had decided that the Dungiven Bypass "could" be decoupled from the rest of the scheme and implemented at an earlier date, nothing more has been said about this possibility. As the only town on the entire Belfast-Derry road that is not bypassed, and one that is experiencing significant air pollution and congestion, this really should be well up the priority list within DRD.
6 Dec 2014: Speaking in the Assembly three weeks ago, the Minister was asked about the scheme. He gave the current position as follows: "the inspector [at the 2012 public inquiry] has produced a report containing a number of recommendations. Those include a request to consider an alternative route in the vicinity of Dungiven.That work is continuing, and, when I am satisfied that all issues have been appropriately reviewed, a number of which are complex, I will issue a departmental statement." In previous updates I have expressed curiosity that it has taken so long to respond to the report of the public inquiry, since TransportNI have now had it for nearly two years. The comment in the Assembly implies that the main holdup is that an alternative route is being considered at Dungiven. Assessing an alternative route would generate a lot of work, for example new surveys, new cost estimation works and possibly new traffic surveys and modelling. So this could explain the delay. However, it has to be noted that the minutes of a TransportNI board meeting held on 1 October (but just published) say that the "Departmental Statement has been submitted to the Minister for his consideration in advance of an announcement on the way forward". The "Departmental Statement" is the formal name given to TransportNI's response to the report of the public inquiry, and this suggests that the statement was actually complete at the start of October and therefore that the work at Dungiven is already completed. This made me suspect that the Minister was merely biding his time for an appropriate moment to announce the way forward. There was a debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly last week about the Dungiven Bypass, which is one of the most anticipated components of this larger scheme. I had therefore expected that the Minister would use that debate to make some kind of an announcement. However he did not, instead stating that the work to assess the alternative route at Dungiven was "ongoing" and that he cannot give a timescale for these reasons: "I cannot pre-empt due process and my decision on the statutory orders [ie, whether and how he presses ahead with the scheme]. If that decision leads to the publication of the direction order [ie, whether he gives it the go-ahead], delivery of the scheme will be subject to final approval of the business case and be reliant on funding being made available by the Executive". I still believe that it is likely that the Dungiven Bypass component of the scheme will proceed ahead of the remainder. In his comments three weeks ago in the Assembly, the Minister gave the costs of the scheme as follows:
• Dungiven Bypass - £55m-£65m
• Dungiven to Maydown [Derry] - £290-£305m
• Maydown to Caw [upgrade of a short stretch of the A2 in Derry] - £45-£50m
This gives a total scheme cost of £390-£420m which is more than the figure of £350-£390m that has been quoted since 2011. This is very expensive, and it is unlikely in the current climate that this kind of money will be available in the near future.
14 Sep 2014: It has now been a year-and-a-half since the DRD Minister was given the inspector's report into the public inquiry into this scheme which was held in September and October 2012. In February 2014 he had indicated that he would make a statement "later this financial year", which presumably meant April 2014, but this date also came and went with no statement. So it has now been 18 months since he received the report, so it's getting a bit hard to explain the ongoing absence of any statement. One possibility is that Northern Ireland's financial situation is so uncertain, and with the way forward for the A5 scheme still not being clear, that the Minister does not want to rashly commit to a particular course of action that he may not be able to follow through with. Another possibility is that the Inquiry Inspector has identified an issue that is proving particularly lengthy to resolve. The Minister was asked about this very issue in the Assembly on 8 September, when he said "I am considering a response to [the Inspector's] recommendations and will issue the departmental statement in due course when I am satisfied that all issues, a number of which are complex, have been appropriately reviewed." This is very vague. Although he says some of the outstanding issues are "complex" this doesn't necessarily imply that this complexity is the root cause of the delay, which I tend to suspect is more to do with financial uncertainty. However, he did give great hope to the people of Dungiven - the only non-bypassed town on the whole Belfast to Derry route - by basically saying that the Dungiven Bypass will be built ahead of the whole scheme. When asked if he would consider "decoupling the bypass at Dungiven from the larger project" his reply was "I am happy to confirm that I have taken the decision that the various components of the entire scheme can be decoupled. Subject to the finance being made available and the other issues being resolved, we can proceed." That is as close to a commitment as I have seen to date and is a very positive sign that this is going to be what happens. So I think we can expect that when the Minister finally makes his statement, it will be to say that the scheme is to be broken into two parts - the Derry to Dungiven stretch, and the Dungiven Bypass with the latter to progress first.
10 Apr 2014: Based on the comment the Minister made in February 2014 (see below) I had expected us to have the Inspector's Report from the Public Inquiry and the DRD's Departmental Statement by now. This latter document is the one outlining how the DRD will respond to any recommendations the inspector made and setting out what they plan to do next. However, in the Assembly a few days ago the Minister was asked about the scheme and explained that "we are still considering the inspector's report arising out of the public inquiry. The issues are not yet concluded, and we hope to make progress on outlining our thoughts on that in the not-too-distant future". So it seems we'll have to wait a bit longer. Certainly the political pressure on the Minister to detach the Dungiven Bypass element of the scheme and progress it before the rest of the scheme is great, and I would not be surprised if this is what eventually happens in the face of tight budgets.
19 Mar 2014: In the Assembly yesterday, the Minister gave an update on this scheme. This isn't the official statement that we're still anticipating in the near future (see previous update below), but is useful nonetheless. We have known since June 2012 that the DRD has prepared a plan to split the scheme into two bits, which would allow the Dungiven Bypass stretch to be built ahead of the rest of the scheme in the evening of full funding being an issue. In the Assembly today, he added that it would be possible to split the project into three by also separating off the upgrade of the short stretch of the existing A2 at the Derry end of the scheme (Maydown to Caw roundbout). In reality, this is a relatively tiny component of the whole scheme, so doesn't change that much. The long (approx 25km) stretch from Dungiven to Maydown roundabout constitutes the bulk of the scheme. We are still waiting for a more formal announcement within the next few weeks which should set out more clearly what the Minister intends to do next with this scheme.
10 Feb 2014: Ten days ago I commented that it was now some time since the DRD Minister had received the report from the Inspector of the Public Inquiry that sat in September 2012, and this week the Minister was asked about it via a Question for Written Answer. He said "I expect to make a Departmental Statement on the way forward later this financial year", which presumably means by the end of March 2014. A Departmental Statement is the document usually released along with the Inspector's Report and outlines how the DRD will respond to any recommendations in the Inspector's Report and sets out a decision on whether or not to proceed. However, this does not mean that the construction process would then begin, as the scheme then has to wait for legal orders to be made (eg, to buy the necessary land) and most importantly for funding from the Executive, which may not be forthcoming at this time since the Minister has previously indicated that he's unwilling to progress both the A5 and A6 schemes simultaneously.
31 Jan 2014: In my update on 15 April 2013 (below) I noted that the DRD Minister had received the report from the Inspector of the Public Inquiry that sat in September 2012. Experience of recent years is such that I anticipated that this would be published before the end of 2013, but this has not happened. They're not obliged to release it under any particular timescale, but I'm just flagging up the fact that they've now had it for almost ten months, which is quite a long time. Perhaps there is a reluctance to publish the report ahead of a funding announcement as this would simply draw attention to the fact that this is yet another scheme serving Derry that hasn't gone ahead! There is still nothing more on the suggestion that the Dungiven Bypass scheme might get split off and implemented at an earlier date than the rest of the scheme, despite ongoing local interest in the matter.
1 May 2013: In my previous update I commented that with the 12-18 month delay to the A5 project, the "Dungiven Bypass" element of this scheme must surely be high up the list of possible alternative schemes to be progressed in the meantime. In the Assembly yesterday the Minister seemed favourable to the idea when that precise question was put to him. He said "I am pleased to confirm that the design of the scheme allows for the Dungiven bypass to be taken forward and completed as the first phase of the scheme. It will provide 4·8 kilometres of dual carriageway bypassing Dungiven to the south at a total cost in the range of £60 million to £80 million. The construction of this element of the scheme would be dependent — and this is the key thing — on the availability of finance in subsequent periods." The last sentence is something he 'has to say' since the Executive has not yet agreed how the A5 money will be reallocated, but the first two sentences show that decoupling the Bypass section from the larger scheme is a distinct possibility. The main bit of work still to be done is the analysis of the Inspector's Report from last September's Public Inquiry which has been received but not published.
15 Apr 2013: According to a Question for Written Answer in the Assembly, the DRD Minister has now received the report from the Inspector at last September's Public Inquiry. This is almost exactly to the timescale predicted at the end of the Inquiry (see update below for 4 Oct) which is nice. The report will not be published just yet. Typically, the DRD take a few months to examine it and respond to any recommendations before publishing both the inspector's report and their response (called a "Departmental Statement") simultaneously. We could expect to see this before the end of 2013. Given the recent delays on the A5 project, the "Dungiven Bypass" element of this scheme (a small but critical part of the whole scheme) is surely high up on the list of possible schemes to be taken forward at an earlier date, so it is very timely that the Public Inquiry report has been received. Let us hope that there were not too many issues with the plans.
24 Oct 2012: For those with a particular interest in this scheme, Roads Service have just published transcripts of the six day Public Inquiry that took place a month ago. You can download them here. This is only the third time that I know of that Roads Service have published such transcripts (the first two being for the A55 at Knock and the A5 WTC) and is a very welcome development for public transparency. Happy reading!
4 Oct 2012: The Public Inquiry into this scheme took place as planned from 24th September to 2nd October, and finished on schedule having heard over 125 objections. The Inspector, JA Robb, will finish by conducting site visits on 9th and 10th October. The DRD say that they expect the Inspector to submit his report "before the end of March 2013", but it is important to note that it will not be published at that point. The DRD typically take a few months more to consider the recommendations and outline their response before publishing it. So we might expect to see it around the summer time next year. Detailed information about the objections, along with transcripts of the Public Inquiry are (or soon will be) available here. With thanks to Paul McCloskey. Some (including me!) are speculating that the unexpected delays to the A5 scheme over the past month might free up some money over the coming months that could potentially be redirected to the Dungiven Bypass element of this scheme. This is quite possible, since the Minister has already indicated that he is sympathetic to the idea of proceeding with the Dungiven Bypass ahead of the rest of the scheme. Watch this space.
26 Jun 2012: We now know that the Public Inquiry into this scheme will begin at 10am on 24 September 2012, in the Roe Park Hotel, 40 Drumrane Road, Limavady BT49 9LB. The Inspector will be JA Robb, who was also the Inspector for the A8 Larne Public Inquiry and the A6 Castledawson-Randalstown dualling Public Inquiry. Roads Service has also published their pre-Inquiry Departmental Statement, which sets out in considerable detail their case for building the road as proposed. This contains some interesting historical information and is worth a read for that reason alone. In another interesting development, speaking in the Assembly yesterday the DRD Minister gave a strong hint that the Dungiven Bypass section may be decoupled from the rest of the scheme and built separately. They had previously resisted this as it was anticipated that the entire A6 scheme would proceed before too long, and hence there was little to gain by dealing with Dungiven separately. However, as it now seems as if it could be some years before the scheme is built, there would now be merit in building the Dungiven Bypass scheme separately (see update below for 14 Feb 2012). The Minister said: "I can confirm that it will be possible to bring forward the draft statutory Orders for the construction of the bypass at Dungiven ahead of and without compromising the future delivery of the remainder of that scheme. However, this is, of course, all conditional on available funding." This is interesting news.
24 Jun 2012: The DRD Minister has announced that (not surprisingly) a Public Inquiry will be held into this scheme, since it attracted 122 objections during the consultation period between December 2011 and March 2012. The Inquiry will probably be held in late September, and further details are due to be released this week. This is later than anticipated last summer, but still welcome. There is currently no financial commitment to actually build the scheme, but it is important to keep progressing the scheme so that it is 'good to go' if and when money becomes available.
14 Feb 2012: Today saw a major announcement of how the money for roads will be spent over the next four years. This scheme was not among them. This was not surprising, but until now we have had at least hoped that it might begin around 2014/15 (see update below for 11 May 2011). Today's announcement means it won't commence until at least 2015. However, it is disappointing that the Minister has not at least chosen to press ahead with the Dungiven Bypass element of the scheme. Dungiven is the only town not bypassed on the entire A6, and all the traffic pollutes the village. However, it should be said in the Minister's defense that the scheme has not yet had its public inquiry, and this means even the Dungiven Bypass could not commence for at least a couple of years, even if it was decided to go ahead with it separately. The money that is available needs to be spent sooner than that timescale would allow.
8 Jan 2012: Roads Service will be holding the next round of public exhibitions into this scheme this month. As always, I would urge anyone with an interest in the scheme to turn up as this is a vital part of the process, and an opportunity to express your views. According to this press release, issued just before Christmas, the exhibition dates are:
17 and 18 Jan 2012 - Dungiven Sports Pavilion, Chapel Road - 10am to 9pm
24 and 25 Jan 2012 - YMCA, 51 Glenshane Road, Drumahoe - 10am to 9pm
26 Jan 2012 - Strathfoyle Youth Centre, 13 Deramore Drive - 10am to 9pm
The deadline for comments and objections is 2 March 2012.
For those interested in history, this scheme page now contains links to multiple historical documents.
17 Dec 2011: The draft legal orders for this scheme were published on 14th December. These include the Environmental Statement (sets out what impact the scheme will have on society and the environment and is required by law). It also includes the draft legal order (required to build a new trunk road) and the vesting orders, part 1 and part 2 (which define whose land they will be buying to build the road) and some other documents. The Environmental Statement includes revised plans for the junction, which are interesting in that two junctions have been dropped entirely - which is excellent news as they merely provided superfluous links across to the existing A6 which will remain in place as a perfectly adequate route (presumably with a 60mph speed limit) for accessing all the properties along that stretch. The changes made since we were last given junction designs in May 2009 are as follows:
The layout of Killaloo junction west of Claudy has been amended slightly - I have altered the strip map above to reflect the new design.
Ballyhanedin Road junction east of Claudy has been dropped - the road will be bridged over the A6 but with no access to the A6.
Killunaght Road junction near Foreglen has been dropped - the road will be bridged over the A6 but with no access to the A6.
4 Jul 2011: The Minister has confirmed that the draft legal documents required to build the road will be published "later this year", and that the Public Inquiry will likely be held in Spring 2012, slightly later than expected in April. This does not imply that the road will go ahead any earlier than previously stated, merely that Roads Service want to press ahead with the process so that, subject to the Inquiry, construction of the road can go ahead once finance is available.
14 May 2011: Speaking at the Annual Dinner of the Chartered Institution of Highway Enginners Northern Ireland, the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Regional Development Malcolm McKibbin said "development work is proceeding on the A6 schemes and late changes to the draft budget mean that we should also be able to start construction in the last year of the budget period" (quoted in Plant & Civil Engineer, May 2011). There are two "A6 schemes" - this one, and the scheme to dual the A6 from Randalstown to Castledawson. The Minister's comments last month about Dungiven (see previous update) suggest that Mr McKibbin may be referring specifically to this scheme when he says that construction should be able to start, but it's possible he means both. Previously both schemes were delayed until at least 2015. The "last year of the budget period" is the financial year running from April 2014 to April 2015.
27 Apr 2011: The Minister has confirmed in a Written Answer that development work will proceed on this scheme over the next few years, despite there not being enough money to build it. In particular, he suggests that the draft legal documents required to build the road will be released in late 2011, and that the Public Inquiry is likely to take place in "late 2011/early 2012" - somewhat later than was anticipated last Autumn. He also implies again that the 2.5km Dungiven Bypass may be built ahead of the main scheme. The cost is now being given as "£350m-£390m", slightly higher than the figure of "£320-£390m" being quoted in late 2009.
7 Mar 2011: Roads Service have come into some new money, to the tune of £107m, and this press release suggests that some of it may be put towards the A6. The Minister does not say which of the two A6 schemes it refers to (Randalstown to Castledawson or Derry to Dungiven), but his comment that "the Dungiven Bypass will be the priority" suggests it is this scheme. The money is nowhere near enough to complete this entire scheme, so it is possible that the 2.5km Dungiven Bypass section may proceed before the rest of the scheme - but this is not stated, so we don't know. Dungiven is singled out because it is now the only town on the entire Belfast to Derry route that is not bypassed.
14 Jan 2011: Roads Service have revealed their budget for 2011-2015 and, due to lack of money, this scheme has now been put on hold, seemingly until at least 2015. The only note is that funding will be available to "continue development" of the project, but not actually build it. In the reduced funding climate all available monies are being funnelled into the A5 and A8 schemes.
19 Oct 2010: In a Written Answer in the Assembly, the Minister has said that the legal documents that are required (see update below on 16 Feb) will be published in early 2011, which represents a bit of slippage on the dates given earlier this year. The estimated date of the Public Inquiry is now being given as "summer 2011". Assuming the public inquiry passes the scheme, and subject to the availability of finance, the Minister is saying that work should begin in 2013. Due to the inevitable budget cuts in the coming months, the Minister for Finance has asked all other Ministers to suggest how their budgets could be cut. However the Minister for Regional Development is currently reluctant to suggest places were cuts could be made in his department, which makes it impossible to assess whether or not the 2013 date is realistic. Hopefully the situation will become clearer in the near future once firm decisions have been made. A number of "Health Impact Assessment" workshops were held in late September, and details can be found on the Roads Service web site. It's not immediately clear from the material on the web site what material impact this will have on the scheme.
18 Aug 2010: In a briefing to Derry City Council in July, Roads Service have said that work on this scheme is still expected to begin in "early 2013". However, we should not rely too much on this since the important budget decisions due to be taken in the coming months are likely to impact on roads.
16 Feb 2010: According to the Minister in the Assembly on 8 Feb 2010, design work is continuing and Roads Service hope to publish the draft Direction Order (basically the legal document giving permission to build a new main road) and the draft Vesting Order (the legal document needed to buy the land to build the road) "before the end of of 2010". The cost was re-stated, and has not changed, at £320m-£390m.
18 Jan 2010: The terminus of the new road at the Derry end will require changes to the A2 Clooney Road, mainly involving improving the alignment and standard, and removing one roundabout. A public exhibition of what is proposed will take place at The North West Teachers Centre, 24 Temple Road, Strathfoyle on Tuesday 19th January 5pm-9pm and Wednesday 20th January 1pm-9pm. I would encourage all those with an interest in the scheme to turn up as this is one of the main ways that the public can engage with the planners.
7 Jan 2010: According to a Written Answer in the Assembly in late December 2009, the current estimate of the cost of this scheme has risen to "£320m to £390m" which is a further increase on the "£320m" estimated in December 2008.
6 May 2009: The Minister announced the preferred route today. The new road will be built to dual-two lane standard, with 1 metre hard strips and no central reserve crossings. Starting at a new roundabout east of Dungiven, it will bypass Dungiven to the south before following an offline route for the first 10km. It will then join the existing A6 where it will be an online upgrade past Claudy until close to Drumahoe. It then heads cross country again to the north to join the existing A2 road at a new roundabout at Gransha. This is quite far north, so we could expect a large percentage of motorists will elect to leave the road at Drumahoe and use the existing A6 past Altnagelvin rather than go all the way up to Gransha. All seven intermediate junctions will be grade separated - six with a "compact" design and one (Drumahoe) with a larger layout. There may also be a westbound left-in/left-out junction at Burntollet, but the Road Service map is not clear enough to determine if this is true. I have put an approximate version of the route onto a Google Maps overlay, seen by clicking here. The press are reporting that construction will start in 2012 and last until 2016, but this is not stated in the Roads Service material. The official position late last year was construction commencing in 2013 subject to the availability of funding.
27 April 2009: Roads Service have said that the preferred route will be announced in early May, and details will be on display to the public at the following locations and dates:
6 & 7 May 2009: Dungiven Community Hall, Chapel Road, Dungiven, 1pm to 9pm
12 & 13 May 2009: YMCA Centre, 51 Glenshane Road, Drumahoe, 1pm to 9pm
All those with an interest in the scheme should be urged to turn up, as this is one of the key meetings to have your questions answered and raise any concerns. Representatives from Roads Service and the design company will be there.
16 Dec 2008: According to a Stormont Assembly written answer last week, the estimated cost of the scheme has now risen to £320m. It confirms that the preferred route is due to be announced in the Spring of 2009 and again tentatively suggests commencement may be around 2012/13.
10 Dec 2008: Roads Service published a 4-page leaflet on the scheme last month. It does not contain any new information, but confirms the timescale previously announced and provides a useful summary of the scheme.
21 Oct 2008: According to an Assembly written answer from 17 October, the scheme is still on schedule for commencement "during the 2012/13 financial year". The answer also states that the Dungiven Bypass portion of the scheme will take about 18 months to complete. There have been hints that this part of the scheme may progress early on in the scheme to ensure that it is open as soon as possible.
15 Jun 2008: According to this press release, the cost of the project has risen to £300m (up from £250m estimated in 2005). It also revealed that the preferred route is due to be announced in the summer of 2009 and that "over 100 people" are involved in the route development in one form or another. The press release has also said that Roads Service are now investigating how to provide a link from the A6 at Drumahoe to the A5 on the south side of the city. Such a link would almost certainly follow a new offline route. It is unclear if this link would be part of this scheme, or be a separate project.
24 May 2008: Roads Service are holding a series of public exhibitions between 20 and 28 May. They are using these to reveal the five chosen route corridors. Interestingly, some of these stray OUTSIDE the route corridor announced last year and thus there is now an "expanded" route corridor. At the Derry end it now looks almost certain that the road will tie in to the existing A2 between Caw and Maydown rather than the Crescent Link itself. At the Dungiven end two new routes for the bypass of the town are being considered, after complaints about the current route that will sever a GAA training ground. One of these passes further to the south, beyond the river, while the other passes to the north of the town. All the documents made available on the days are also online here, including more detailed versions of the above maps.
28 Apr 2008: The publication in April 2008 of the "Investment Delivery Plan for Roads" document has allayed fears that the scheme will be delayed, since it includes this scheme in the "Preparation pool" which contains schemes anticipated to begin within 5 years, ie by 2013.
8 Mar 2008: According to Roads Service, ground surveys on the chosen route corridor are underway. This will inform the decision on a preferred route within this corridor. Roads Service still have the scheme in their "preparation pool" (construction anticipated within 5 years or so) but with the recent announcements by Conor Murphy (see previous updates) it's still unclear what the timescale is.
5 Feb 2008: Conor Murphy has again denied that there is any slippage in the timetable for the project. He said that "it is not correct to state that there has been slippage on the A6 Derry to Dungiven project. Indeed in July 2007 I announced the appointment of consultants to examine options to enable the selection of a preferred route by spring 2009". There is no doubt that this is true, but it only refers to the first element of the project. The "slippage" being noted is in the timescale for completion of the project as a whole. When first announced,Roads Service were saying that the scheme would be delivered within the timetable of the Regional Strategic Transport Plan which ran from 2005-2015. Now, they are saying that it's going to be delivered within the timetable of the Investment Strategy 2008-2018. While it's only a time period, it still has the potential to delay the project by up to three years.
30 Dec 2007: Conor Murphy responded to the media reports last week by assuring business leaders that the scheme has NOT been cancelled and will proceed. However, while reassuring, his statement does seem to be a disguised attempt to sneak a revised timescale through. When the scheme was first announced in 2005, it was stated that it would be built within the timescale of the Regional Strategic Transportation Network Transport Plan 2015, ie by 2015. However in this week's statement, Conor Murphy now says that it will be built within the timescale of the draft Investment Strategy 2008-2018, ie by 2018. This subtle change means that the project could potentially be delayed by up to three years. This would seem inevitable give the level of financial committment required for the A5 dualling scheme.
24 Dec 2007: As has been noted by the media, this scheme is mysteriously missing from the Draft Investment Strategy 2008-2018 which was published in October. This Strategy (admittedly a draft) outlines the targets of spending of £3bn on roads over the next ten years. Under its list of "key milestones" it lists the A4 dualling scheme (Dungannon to Ballygawley), completion of the A1 dualling, completion of the M1, M2 and Westlink upgrades, the recently announced A5 dualling scheme (Londonderry to Aughnacloy) and the A8 dualling scheme (to Larne). However there is no mention of the A6 dualling scheme. According to Derry Chamber of Commerce, the DRD has said that the A6 scheme may be put on hold or delayed. This is speculation, but it is worth noting that the shortfall required in order to undertake the A5 dualling scheme is £260m. This is almost the same amount as the cost of this scheme. So it is possible that the Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy has decided to take the money from this scheme and use it to fund the A5 scheme instead. If so, and it is only guesswork, then it is likely to prompt a lot of debate on the subject.
Background to Scheme
The Regional Strategic Transport Plan, published in 2004, explained why it was thought that further dualling of the 40km of the A6 beyond Castledawson could not go ahead before 2015:
B3.3.41 When the funding envisaged by RTS is extended to 2015, there would be £529.4m available for Strategic Road Improvements in the RSTN TP period. However, this is fully taken up by the high priority SRIs proposed across the RSTN, including the £171.9m envisaged for SRI schemes on routes serving the North-West. Therefore, within the funding assumptions of this Plan, it would not be realistic to expect that further dualling of the A6 could be undertaken within the Plan period (apart from the Randalstown to Castledawson section already proposed). B3.3.42 However, further dualling of the A6 will be required outside the RSTN Plan period, in order to develop and upgrade the link between Northern Ireland's two largest cities by 2025. Therefore, during the Plan period it will be necessary to plan the route of a dual carriageway between Castledawson and Derry, by undertaking a route selection study. This will inform the decision regarding the acquisition of land and route protection lines, e.g. for the Dungiven Bypass.
This lack of funding was rectified suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly in December 2005 by the announcement of sufficient funding for the Dungiven to Derry section. Prophetically, the RSTN did comment that "It is... likely that future dualling in the 2015 to 2025 period will commence at the Londonderry end of the route." This is because traffic levels are highest at the Toome and Derry ends of the A6, and lowest at the Glenshane Pass and because of the difficult terrain crossing the Sperrins. Traffic figures collected in 2004 showed the following daily traffic at various points on the A6:
Toome - 21160 vehicles
Castledawson - 14880 vehicles
Ranaghan (Glenshane Pass) - 10470 vehicles
Western edge of Dungiven - 13820 vehicles
Altnagelvin, Londonderry - 12930 vehicles
Rossdowney, Londonderry - 26930 vehicles
Thanks to Diarmaid Elder for the traffic information on this page.
A typical view of the A6 road in its current form, here seen near Dungiven. [Photo by Wesley Johnston]
Dungiven town centre is the biggest bottleneck on the route, and will get a bypass. [Photo by Wesley Johnston]
Lots more photos of the road are available on the Roads Service web site - see link at the top of this page.