M1, north o' the border!

murphaph

So when the Dundalk western bypass is complete and the little stretch of M1 north of Dundalk hits the border, what will it be called?

Personally I think the Highways Agency should rename the existing M1 between the junction with the A1 at and Dungannon and any future motorway sections north of Newry should be named M1.

Politically it'll be a hot potato of course but for heaven's sake-imagine tourists trying to reach Dublin looking quickly at a map in Belfast. they'll see the M1 near belfast and the M1 near Dublin and assume the two actually connect. they'll find Dungannon, not Dublin!

Comments?

John R

They will probably just leave it as A1 dual carriageway. Remember that in the UK dual carriageway sections can be posted as 70MPH, as much of the A1 is now.

If they do classify sections as motorway then A1(M) most likely.

MrPudding

It doesn't look like it is going to be motorway North of the border. All the work going on seems to be of a road dualling nature. I presume it will, as John R says, stay as A1 and then join the M1 at Sprucefield.

MrP

BrianD

Not forgetting that up north the M1 goes west to Enniskillen. They'd have to change their mindset to have the M1 go south to Dublin.

A Dub in Glasgo

Tell me about it.... I was driving from Glasgow to Dublin, got off the ferry in Belfast and the route to Dublin is very badly sign posted as you come out of the docks. Eventually get onto the M1 and I am cruising and miss the bloody turn off for the A1!!

The new M1 in to Dublin is a gift though, it was terrible driving through all towns towns and villages. I will gladly pay the 1.60 toll over the Boyne!

mackerski

murphaph wrote:

So when the Dundalk western bypass is complete and the little stretch of M1 north of Dundalk hits the border, what will it be called?

That little stretch isn't going to be the M1, it'll be the N1. The western bypass is being built as Motorway, but from there to the border is to be HQ Dual.

The NI bits will remain as A1. The rest of the NI M1, as far as Dungannon, is actually duplicating the A4, which it turns into at the western end. But UK road numbering never really cared a whole lot about having Motorway numbers match the parallel A-route.

Dermot

spacetweek

mackerski wrote:

The NI bits will remain as A1. The rest of the NI M1, as far as Dungannon, is actually duplicating the A4, which it turns into at the western end. But UK road numbering never really cared a whole lot about having Motorway numbers match the parallel A-route.

This is true. In the UK (and many other countries), they keep the original A or N or D-routes (or whatever) even when they duplicate them with a motorway. The reason presumably is because, since traffic is so much heavier, they can't afford to downgrade the original route like we do - you need both. This also means that it's more tempting to deviate from it, so then the M1 in NI follows first the A1, and then the A4. I prefer our system.

I think in the case of NI they probably should have enforced better numbering due to the small geographical area. The M2 at Ballymena should be the M26 and the rest of the M2 and the M22 should be the M6, and so on.

Maybe it doesn't matter though, as the DRDNI (?) doesn't seem to want to build any more motorways up there anyway.

As for the original question, the Dublin-Belfast route will be as follows: M1, N1, A1, M1.

mackerski

spacetweek wrote:

The M2 at Ballymena should be the M26

Not according to the original plans. The M2 was to be continuous from Belfast towards Coleraine. You can see at the southern end of the Balymena M2 and a km or two before the main M2 becomes the M22 where the tie-in was to happen.

Dermot

PS: The A2 runs from Newry to Derry, pretty much tight along the coast, so there was clearly never going to be an M2 corresponding to that.

murphaph

British A & B roads and Motorways Classification System

And just for completeness here's a bit on the M2 in NI....