A5 road (Northern Ireland)
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- For other uses, see A5 road (disambiguation).
The A5 is a major primary route in Northern Ireland. It travels through County Londonderry and County Tyrone, commencing in the city of Derry, passing the large towns of Strabane and Omagh before it meets the N2 across the border in the Republic of Ireland towards the final destination of Dublin.
The road forms part of the North West Passage.
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[edit] Route
The A5 starts at a crossroads in Derry where the Craigavon Bridge meets the A2. The A5 travels in a southerly direction skirting the river Foyle past Prehen and through the villages of New Buildings and across the border into Tyrone at Magheramason. A dangerous bend leads up to the village of Bready and the road then passes through Ballymagroarty. It then by-passes the large town of Strabane, where it meets the A15 close to Lifford Bridge, which crosses the Border to Lifford onto the N15 close to its meeting with the N14.
After by-passing Strabane, the A5 traverses through the historical village of Sion Mills and passes over the village of Victoria Bridge. It then by-passes Newtownstewart and continues on towards the county town of Omagh. On passing through the town, the A5 meets the A32 road, the main road between Omagh and Enniskillen.
The A5 continues to one of the best-known roundabouts in Northern Ireland - the Ballygawley Roundabout, located outside the village of the same name. Here, it meets and multiplexes for a few hundred metres with the A4 Belfast-Enniskillen route, before turning right towards the border village of Aughnacloy. On leaving Aughnacloy, the road crosses the border into County Monaghan and becomes the N2 towards Dublin.
[edit] Recent developments
Despite being the major route when travelling from Dublin to the north west of the island, the A5 route does not contain any dual carriageway sections, and for many years the route brought drivers through a series of towns and villages which often provided cumbersome bottlenecks.
Since the 1980s, construction has taken place of a series of by-passes around the town of Strabane. So far, two projects have been completed. The first by-pass, constructed and opened in the early 1990s, relieved the northern suburbs and the town centre of traffic using the A5, and in 2003, an extension of the road diverted traffic through the suburban Melmount area of Strabane. Both projects have seen traffic avoid a journey through the town. A third, and final, project is discussed below.
A further bottleneck was provided through the village of Newtownstewart. Previously, the A5 route had to navigate a narrow section before taking a sharp right at a T-junction with the B46 to Plumbridge. This was followed by a left turn a short distance later through the southern part of the village, before meeting a dangerous right-hand bend which carried a 25mph speed limit. A bypass of the village, following the route of the former Derry-Portadown railway, was constructed and opened to traffic in 2003.
The 1990s also saw development on the A5 road to relieve traffic passing through Omagh, the county town of Tyrone. A by-pass was constructed in three stages - the first stage was completed in the mid 1990s and diverted the A5 route away from the town centre. A further relief road allowed traffic to avoid the increasingly built-up northern parts of the towns in the late 1990s, and in 2006, the final stage of the Omagh by-pass was opened, taking traffic away from the many housing developments on the southern end of the town and diverting traffic from a bridge over the Drumragh river, the site of a dangerous S-bend and accident black spot.
[edit] Planned developments
The Department of Regional Development has confirmed that part of the A5 route between Ballygawley and Aughnacloy will be realigned, along with a similar project on the A4 route nearby. The scheme has so far passed through the consultation stages and construction should commence at some point in 2007.
A series of other speculative schemes to improve the A5 have also been earmarked by the DRD:
- The completion of the Strabane by-pass project by a further realignment to the north of the town; construction may occur before 2011
- A new link road and crossing of the River Finn across the border near Strabane to meet the planned N14/N15 Lifford by-pass; the legal procedures to confirm this scheme are currently being negotiated and construction should occur between 2008 and 2010
- A planned upgrade of the A5 between Derry and Victoria Bridge converting the carriageway to a single D2+1 route; construction timetabled for between 2011 and 2016
- A further outer by-pass of Omagh; construction timetabled for after 2015
[edit] The Derry-Aughnacloy motorway
In October 2006, it was reported that senior Irish Government sources confirmed that the forthcoming National Development Plan for the years 2007 to 2013 would include plans to offer co-funding for a series of infrastructure projects in Northern Ireland.
Among the plans were the proposal for a motorway running from Derry to the border at Aughnacloy, which would relieve traffic on the present A5 route and provide faster journey times from Derry and Northern Donegal to Dublin and beyond. It is yet unknown whether the new motorway would follow the course of the A5. A projected cost for the motorway project was not publicised at the time.
If the proposal goes ahead, it is not certain whether DRD plans to improve sections of the A5 will continue or be superseded by the motorway's construction.
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Roads and Motorways in Northern Ireland |
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| Motorways: M1 | M2 | M3 | M5 | M12 | M22 | A8(M) | |
| Main 'A' Roads: A1 | A2 | A4 | A5 | A7 | A24 | A36 | |
| Belfast: Donegall Square | Falls Road | Malone Road | Shankill Road | Westlink | |
