Traffic In Armagh City

RadioCity

It's a bit of a curiosity to me why certain towns in NI appear to be badly congested while others, you can pass through in a few minutes. Some villages can lose you 5 minutes on a journey, while some larger towns can take the same. Omagh is particularly bad, the road through the town can be quicker than the through-pass, Newry traffic seems unrelenting although the latter I have much less experience of.

I'm trying to plan a route to Dublin from Tyrone not using the N2 and getting to the M1 at Dundalk (ie naarrow B/R roads not an option) and am wondering if anyone comment on the traffic in Armagh City- with regard to how badly congested it can get at particular times of day.

I appreciate the layout of the roads in Armagh means virtually everything is shoe-horned into the City Centre area, is there any time the place would be best avoided? I've already been told the A28 from Newry is one to avoid in the evening coming down into Armagh from Markethill. Is this the same every day, or just Monday to Friday?

Any comments would be appreciated from those familar with the City or that route.

J Cheever Loophole

Traffic in Armagh City can indeed be seriously bad, and as you've correctly said it's the road layout. We're on the waiting list for two new link roads, which would help divert traffic away from the City Centre. However the last I heard these were pencilled in for sometime within 2015 - 2020, and of course given the curbs on public spending, there has to be a question over whether or not that indeed will happen. In the absence of that, there are some serious discussions on going about making the Mall one way, to provide a two lane flow of traffic.

It strikes me from your post that you're pretty clued in already to Armagh - every evening there is a significant build up of traffic on the Newry Road into the City Centre, and it is always around what could best be termed the evening rush hour! The junction at the bottom of the Newry Road can be a nightmare. For what it's worth, Friday always strikes me as being a particularly busy day on the roads around the City.

RadioCity

I was in it on Sunday a few weeks back and was commenting on it with a colleague who mentioned the evening peak, I'm guessing 17:00-18:00 that the Newry Road was particularly busy.

Other than that the A28 was a great road between Newry and Armagh.

J Cheever Loophole

Just noting again your first post and that you may be travelling from Tyrone to Dublin.

The Moy Road junction (coming into the City) would also be a bottle neck and of course would entail you having to negotiate the Mall, which can also have serious traffic build ups. If a primary consideration was trying to avoid traffic chaos in Armagh, I'd tend to approach through Aughnacloy and Caledon - that takes you into the City and the infamous Newry Road junction via the much less busy Killylea and Friary Roads. However I assume this is only really an option if you are travelling from West Tyrone.

RadioCity

Replies appreciated!

I would be approaching Armagh from Caledon/Aughnacloy, but I would think I'd need to go up along the Mall and come back down, unless there was an ingenious way to turn teft somewhere on the A28 to take me into the City Centre saving doing the Mall twice.

J Cheever Loophole

RadioCity wrote: »

I would be approaching Armagh from Caledon/Aughnacloy,

Apologies - I think I maybe assumed you were coming into Armagh from the Moy.

If you're coming in from Caledon and heading for Dublin, then the Mall shouldn't be an issue at all. Simply follow that road into the Newry Road junction, keeping in the right lane down past the City Hotel. The traffic there can be congested most afternoons.

There is a way of avoiding that junction by taking the road for Newtownhamilton. About two miles out of the City, you are looking for a minor road turning off to the left - follow it for about a mile and it should bring you out about a mile out of Armagh on the main Newry Road (A28). You may wish to try this once or twice and see if it makes much of a saving - it would probably add 5 / 10 minutes to your journey (when there are no traffic issues) which I would guess would not really be worth your while, unless there is gridlock in the City.