A5 - Derry Dual Carraigeway

spacetweek

veryangryman means Belfast commuter belt not Derry.
Since that UUP doc was written Greenisland has started construction but since its cost is only £57M that is a small fraction of the A5's cost so it's strange to talk of building the A2 *instead of* the A5.
Info on Wesley's site.
Sounds like the UUP didn't fact check any of this - their doc is pretty shoddy in general (e.g. on p.19 it says "Game-Changing cross-cutting strategy" instead of "cost-cutting".)

I dont know

No word of any progress on this yet although local politicians/campaigners have met with the Taoiseach again to be reassured that the £50m is still available...


Taken from the Action for the A5 Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ActionForTheA5);

THE Irish Government remains committed to the A5 Western Transport Corridor Project (as reported in today's Tyrone Herald)...

This was the message coming out of a meeting between Taoiseach Enda Kenny and a crossborder delegation of politicians, including Tyrone MLAs Declan McAleer and Joe Byrne on Thursday.

An Omagh District Council spokesperson, who accompanied the group to Dublin, said, “The Taoiseach reassured the delegation that he was most anxious to see the project get under way. He also provided reassurance that the commitment to contributions of £25m in 2015 and in 2016 remains unchanged.”

Sinn Féin MLA Declan McAleer said the Irish premier “pledged his continued support for the project stating that it remains a priority for his Government.”
Mr McAleer added, “The area that the A5 will cover has over 500,000 people who do not have a first class link either by road, air or rail to Dublin, the capital city of Ireland and we also have subsidiary road projects such as the N14 and N15 connections into Donegal and Letterkenny that can’t proceed without the A5.
“The A5 will open the entire North West region up for economic development and must be top of any road development projects on the island,” he explained.
“I am delighted that the Taoiseach and Minister of Transport Leo Varadkar have now reiterated the same com- mitment to the A5 as given recently by Martin McGuinness and Peter Robin- son from the Assembly Executive.”

MLA Joe Byrne of the SDLP was also in an upbeat mood after the meeting. He said, “It is most positive that Taoiseach Enda Kenny has met the delegation and thus has recognised the pivotal importance of the A5 project.
“It should be noted that the project itself has island-wide significance as it connects the North-West to the rest of Ireland.
“It is clear from the discussions that the Taoiseach and all of the delegates retain a strong resolute commitment to the deliverance of the A5 road. It is of utmost importance that money ear- marked for the project must not all be siphoned off for other capital projects across the north; the primary concern

nordydan

Quick update on this (links from Wes Johnston's website).

It was thought that the postponement of this scheme would allow the A6 Dualling - Randalstown (M22) to Castledawson scheme to be progressed.

Instead however the A26 dualling - Glarryford to A44 Drones Road scheme has been advanced instead.

Time will tell again if there is a political influence on this scheme as it was advanced by the DUP Finance Minister and UUP Roads Minister over a more needed A6 scheme.

Whilst the words of both ministers would indicate that both the A5 & A6 schemes are still under consideration, the real facts are that both have not been advanced in favour of a less trafficked scheme through a Unionist area where the existing road is of much higher quality.

L1011

That A26 dualling isn't really of any priority at all when non-politicized. Ridiculous.

I dont know

frustrating but sadly not surprising

ardmacha

That A26 dualling isn't really of any priority at all when non-politicized.

leaving aside politics, is it any more important than (say) the A3 from Armagh to Portadown.

L1011

It's acceptable quality s2 as it is, definite porkbarrel job

nordydan

MYOB wrote: »

It's acceptable quality s2 as it is, definite porkbarrel job

You can see the quality from Google Streetview, good quality S2 all the way north of Ballymena.

The A6 Toome to Randalstown section is very poor, comparable with the poorer sections of the N20.

spacetweek

Drove the whole A5 over the weekend in very poor, stormy weather at night.
Thought the alignment was generally good, but it needs a lot of work on adding missing catseyes/streetlighting/hard shoulders and removal of frontage access.
Generally hugely underspecced for the level of traffic it carries.

I dont know

Update from Wesley Johnston...
15 Oct 2014: The DRD has now published the last of the four reports into the impacts of the scheme on environmentally sensitive sites. This one is on the Tully Bog Special Area of Conservation. It is now go out to public consultation for six weeks, until 28 November (I believe). The previous three were published in April and their consultation period is now over.
The report concludes that the A5 scheme will have no impact on Tully Bog (unless the design changes between now and construction). This is the final report that was needed to meet the requirements of the court ruling 19 months ago which hinged on the lack of these reports. Once this public consultation is over the DRD can then move towards publishing a revised Environmental Statement and then a probably new public inquiry, which could be held by the summer of 2015. The Tully Bog report does contain a very interesting thing on page 6, namely a timetable for construction of the whole A5. Back in February 2012, in the face of funding cuts, the DRD decided to proceed with two chunks (Derry to north of Strabane, and south of Omagh to Ballygawley) first, with the intermediate section later. The stretch south of Ballygawley was put on the long finger by the Inquiry inspector. Well, the Tully Bog report I downloaded from the A5WTC site gives this timescale:
construction between junctions 1-3 (New Buildings – Strabane North) and junctions 13- 15 (Omagh South – A4,Ballygawley) between 2017 and 2019;
construction between junctions 3-13 (Strabane North – Omagh South) between 2021 and 2023; and
construction between junction 15 (A4,Ballygawley) and the A5 south of Aughnacloy between 2026 and 2028.
This is very interesting. I am not sure how "official" this information is, or if it's just speculation, but it does imply that the DRD think the provision of the whole road is at least a decade in the future.
http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads/a5omaghstrabane.html#updates

Deedsie

It would be great if it happens eventually. Shocking road to Derry/Donegal at the moment.

Deedsie

Very little mention of the A5 in the run up to the election North of the border.

Geogregor

Deedsie wrote: »

Very little mention of the A5 in the run up to the election North of the border.

Sadly in the whole UK nobody seems give a damn about infrastructure. It is one of the non-subjects during this election.

Which is puzzling as the long term investment in all sorts of infrastructure is key for future growth of GDP and productivity.

Schadenfreudia

Geogregor wrote: »

Sadly in the whole UK nobody seems give a damn about infrastructure. It is one of the non-subjects during this election.

Which is puzzling as the long term investment in all sorts of infrastructure is key for future growth of GDP and productivity.

Given the nature of the new Tory Government (5 year plan; reduce State proportion of the economy from 40% to 35%) it seems unlikely that any projects of scale that aren't privately financed will go ahead.

Assume any NI roads project not contracted is now dead.

spacetweek

Schadenfreudia wrote: »

Given the nature of the new Tory Government (5 year plan; reduce State proportion of the economy from 40% to 35%) it seems unlikely that any projects of scale that aren't privately financed will go ahead.

Assume any NI roads project not contracted is now dead.

Let's wait for a transport announcement before leaping across a vast chasm to that conclusion.

L1011

Schadenfreudia wrote: »

Given the nature of the new Tory Government (5 year plan; reduce State proportion of the economy from 40% to 35%) it seems unlikely that any projects of scale that aren't privately financed will go ahead.

Assume any NI roads project not contracted is now dead.

Majority of 12, lose a few by-elections and they're going to need the DUP or UUP on a vote. A5 isn't flavour of the month with them but there will be some horsetrading going on none the less.

loyatemu

L1011 wrote: »

Majority of 12, lose a few by-elections and they're going to need the DUP or UUP on a vote. A5 isn't flavour of the month with them but there will be some horsetrading going on none the less.

Only 5 govt seats went to by-election in the last parliament, and they won 2 of them back. Tory party is not as elderly/unhealthy as it was in the 90s (when quite a few of Major's MPs died) and with the economy improving and Labour in disarray they could just as likely increase their majority via by-elections. I'd be surprised if they don't make it to 2020, and I'd also be surprised if they don't win again then.

L1011

loyatemu wrote: »

Only 5 govt seats went to by-election in the last parliament, and they won 2 of them back. Tory party is not as elderly/unhealthy as it was in the 90s (when quite a few of Major's MPs died) and with the economy improving and Labour in disarray they could just as likely increase their majority via by-elections. I'd be surprised if they don't make it to 2020, and I'd also be surprised if they don't win again then.

Whip system is rather less effective than it is here, though. He's going to lose a few votes even with a *UP backstop I'd imagine. Fixed-term rules mean that they probably will make 2020 even if they lost a minibus of MPs in one day but it could be awkward along the way.

Schadenfreudia

spacetweek wrote: »

Let's wait for a transport announcement before leaping across a vast chasm to that conclusion.

To reach that conclusion one must merely step across a crack in the pavement, no leaping required.

doopa

Featured on slugger this week:
http://sluggerotoole.com/2015/07/27/the-west-wants-in-why-are-roads-so-poor-west-of-the-bann/

Ren2k7

doopa wrote: »

Featured on slugger this week:
http://sluggerotoole.com/2015/07/27/the-west-wants-in-why-are-roads-so-poor-west-of-the-bann/

And as usual for Slabber the comments are so typically moronic with PUL commentators claiming the reason why there's no motorways in the West is because of greater population in the East. But the A5 project wasn't advanced just to bring high capacity roads to Tyrone and Derry, it was proposed to provide connectivity between Dublin (the economic heartland of all Ireland) and Derry/North-West region (a region of quarter of a million people).

The reason why there are motorways in Tipp, Westmeath, Carlow and Offaly (amongst others) isn't for the benefit of those counties specifically but rather because they lie on key routes linking Ireland's cities and major population centres. And it's this reason why Unionists fought so hard to prevent the A5 from going ahead, to prevent "Protestant farms being cut up to benefit Dublin", to use the words of one notorious British ultra nationalist bigot!

Deedsie

Just saw on the 21:00 news on RTÉ, Charlie Flanagan mentioned the possibility of the Irish government contributing to paying for the Monaghan to Derry road. Could be back on the cards in an effort from the Irish government to help resolve the current impasse North of the border.

Leonard Hofstadter

Well the long awaited Capital Programme is due to be announced on Wednesday, so perhaps there will be some movement then? As well as trying to resolve the problems in the North, improved road access for Donegal would be useful in shoring up the Government's vote there, as FG/Lab would be lucky to get even 1 out of the 5 TDs that county will elect the next time around (now that Dinny McGinley is retiring and Joe McHugh is based all the way up in Inishowen).

Deedsie

captainspeed wrote: »

Well the long awaited Capital Programme is due to be announced on Wednesday, so perhaps there will be some movement then? As well as trying to resolve the problems in the North, improved road access for Donegal would be useful in shoring up the Government's vote there, as FG/Lab would be lucky to get even 1 out of the 5 TDs that county will elect the next time around (now that Dinny McGinley is retiring and Joe McHugh is based all the way up in Inishowen).

Ya that is a fair point... It badly needs to be done but if the government is in a position to spend a small amount of money. At least a section of the M20 and M7 widening surely have to be prioritised. Especially after downgrading Cork city, something will have to be done in the Southwest or FG/Lab won't receive much support there either.

Leonard Hofstadter

Hopefully they'll do something about Cork. It's actually surprising how little infrastructure is mentioned in Cork considering how woeful the road connections are to anywhere other than Dublin. Even the Airport isn't much of an issue (it was supposed to be made debt free and freed from the shackles of the DAA like Shannon was) either. Other than on this forum, you don't hear Cork people talking about these kind of things at all, which is ironic given that the perception outside of Cork would be that we have classic second city syndrome and have a chip on our shoulder towards Dublin (or just anything that's not in or from Cork).

Schadenfreudia

captainspeed wrote: »

Hopefully they'll do something about Cork. It's actually surprising how little infrastructure is mentioned in Cork considering how woeful the road connections are to anywhere other than Dublin.

The lack of interest in infrastructure isn't limited to Cork - if the road system in Dublin wasn't pushed from above to stop the city from strangling I doubt there would have been any political pressure from the ground up to build it.

The almost complete disinterest by the natives in the abandonment of Dart Underground merely shows that the politicians have got it right when assessing the "thinking" of Sean Citizen.

Unfortunately for Sean in the medium and long term....

marmurr1916

Deedsie wrote: »

Just saw on the 21:00 news on RTÉ, Charlie Flanagan mentioned the possibility of the Irish government contributing to paying for the Monaghan to Derry road. Could be back on the cards in an effort from the Irish government to help resolve the current impasse North of the border.

And we're back....

The agreement also includes a recommitment by the Government to provide funding for the A5, the road connecting Dublin to the northwest and Derry.

The previous Irish government had committed €400 million to the project, but this was withdrawn during the economic downturn.

“This is not only important for economic development in Northern Ireland but also for building an all-island economy that creates jobs and prosperity for all our citizens,” said Mr Flanagan.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/deal-reached-in-stormont-talks-on-northern-ireland-1.2433198

Deedsie

marmurr1916 wrote: »

And we're back....



http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/deal-reached-in-stormont-talks-on-northern-ireland-1.2433198

Interesting... The M20 is more worthy of funding, however the A5 road does provide a strategic infrastructure improvement while also aiding to improve the political situation between the communities in Northern Ireland while also improving relations between the Northern Ireland assembly and the Irish government.

Going to be great for Donegal too if it does eventually get built. €107M from the Irish government.

spacetweek

Rename the thread!

Deedsie wrote: »

€107M from the Irish government.

Where did you get €107M from?

Deedsie

spacetweek wrote: »

Rename the thread!


Where did you get €107M from?

http://www.thejournal.ie/northern-ireland-deal-2450681-Nov2015/