A6 dualling - Dungiven to Drumahoe [under construction]

JupiterKid · 04-11-2018 2:16am #1

This long-awaited major road scheme, the A6 Derry to Drumahoe dualling which includes the Dungiven bypass has seen earthworks begin in the past month. This is the biggest road scheme in Northern Ireland since work finished on the A8 Larne to Corrs Corner scheme in 2014.

The project entails 30km of high quality GSJ dual carriageway and work is expected to be complete in 2021. This means that construction on two major road improvement schemes on the A6 from Belfast to Derry is underway. The other major scheme, the A6 dualling from Randalstown to Castledawson, is well advanced and is expected to open to traffic late next year.

Link below (Wesley Johnston’s excellent NI roads site):
http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads/a6dungiventoderry.html

spacetweek · 08-11-2018 10:55pm

Great news altogether - the lack of a dual carriageway between Belfast and Derry is an oddity.

BelfastVanMan · 08-11-2018 11:18pm

spacetweek wrote: »

Great news altogether - the lack of a dual carriageway between Belfast and Derry is an oddity.

The Glenshane Pass between Castledawson Roundabout and Dungiven will remain SC, albeit with overtaking lanes fairly frequently along its length.

I suspect it will be many years before this stretch is dualled.

riddlinrussell · 09-11-2018 5:03pm

BelfastVanMan wrote: »

The Glenshane Pass between Castledawson Roundabout and Dungiven will remain SC, albeit with overtaking lanes fairly frequently along its length.

I suspect it will be many years before this stretch is dualled.

Its a far quieter stretch of the road than either side, will definitely need the works on both ends completed before we can see what effect it has on traffic, likely see an uptick in intercity transit in the coming years. I'd say more pressing will be some solution to get from Drumahoe into Derry (huge illegal rubbish dump means its not getting done with this bit) and fixing the monumentally stupid Idea to retain two roundabouts in succession on the other section (both at toome) along with the Castledawson roundabout at the end of that section.

Chris_5339762 · 09-11-2018 5:40pm

BelfastVanMan wrote: »

The Glenshane Pass between Castledawson Roundabout and Dungiven will remain SC, albeit with overtaking lanes fairly frequently along its length.

I suspect it will be many years before this stretch is dualled.

Agreed. Plus Glenshane would be monumentally expensive to upgrade.

marno21 · 09-11-2018 9:30pm

spacetweek wrote: »

Great news altogether - the lack of a dual carriageway between Belfast and Derry is an oddity.

I don't find it odd at all - all the road improvements to date have been in the east of NI - and I don't think I need to explain why.

It's fantastic that this is going ahead though - in stark contrast to the repeated A5 shenanigans.

theguzman · 13-11-2018 3:46pm

Would this be something which resulted from the DUP's Auction politics to prop up Theresa May or was it planned anyway?

BelfastVanMan · 13-11-2018 4:08pm

theguzman wrote: »

Would this be something which resulted from the DUP's Auction politics to prop up Theresa May or was it planned anyway?

It has been planned for years.

dubhthach · 13-11-2018 4:19pm

spacetweek wrote: »

Great news altogether - the lack of a dual carriageway between Belfast and Derry is an oddity.

Well it's the same reason why the University of Ulster was originally situated in Coleraine (before additional campus's were added), a look at the census data could point to a reason...

dubhthach · 13-11-2018 4:22pm

marno21 wrote: »

I don't find it odd at all - all the road improvements to date have been in the east of NI - and I don't think I need to explain why.

It's fantastic that this is going ahead though - in stark contrast to the repeated A5 shenanigans.

Well I would thought it was obviously why Dungannon got a motorway connection to Belfast first over Derry, even though Derry is second biggest city in the North.

BelfastVanMan · 15-11-2018 12:12pm

Earthworks at Foreglen, County Derry.

xabi · 21-11-2018 12:18pm

dubhthach wrote: »

Well I would thought it was obviously why Dungannon got a motorway connection to Belfast first over Derry, even though Derry is second biggest city in the North.

In the original motorway plan in the 60's 70's, the Belfast - Derry route was via Ballymena and coleraine rather than the more obvious route through County Derry.

dubhthach · 22-11-2018 1:08pm

xabi wrote: »

In the original motorway plan in the 60's 70's, the Belfast - Derry route was via Ballymena and coleraine rather than the more obvious route through County Derry.

Indeed on the Sabre site they have a map from 1965 showing project routes in Northern Ireland/Scotland
Projected_roads_in_Scotland_and_Northern_Ireland%2C_1965_-_Coppermine_-_14505.jpg

Projected_roads_in_Scotland_and_Northern_Ireland%2C_1965_-_Coppermine_-_14505.jpg

I imagine the following would have applied

1. Easier pushing motorway north and not have to deal with Glenshane Pass (and Sperrins in general)
2. By servicing Ballymena/Ballymoney and Coleraine the NI gov would have kept their political base happy.

marno21 · 25-04-2019 12:01am

Some pics of early work on the A6 scheme

https://twitter.com/paulmccloskey12/status/1119598114413977601

Aontachtoir · 25-04-2019 2:32am

dubhthach wrote: »

By servicing Ballymena/Ballymoney and Coleraine the NI gov would have kept their political base happy.

Illustrative of the days when NI was a Protestant state for a Protestant people, with its own fully unionist government and prime minister - the motorway to the second largest city in the country was to be the M23 and the one to wee Coleraine was to be the M2.

Also, thank you for the map - it finally makes sense why the Ballymena bypass is the M2 even though it is 11 km away from the other M2 (which runs directly into the M22...)! A very interesting look at what could have been.

marno21 · 20-05-2019 2:50pm

Earthworks pics from the scheme

https://twitter.com/niroads/status/1128908064466321409

riddlinrussell · 21-05-2019 10:27am

There are more pictures and information on scheme progress on Wesleys website.

http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads/a6dungiventoderry.html#updates

nordydan · 23-06-2020 3:00pm

Alignment fully clear now on Google Maps satellite view:

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.947059,-7.0695321,10634m/data=!3m1!1e3

serfboard · 23-06-2020 5:19pm

nordydan wrote: »

Alignment fully clear now on Google Maps satellite view

Good stuff. And if you go further east on the A6, the Satellite view also shows the alignment of the Randalstown to Castledawson scheme.

Does anyone know (or give a good estimate of) how much single-carriageway A6 will be left when both of these schemes are complete?

BelfastVanMan · 23-06-2020 6:35pm

serfboard wrote: »

Good stuff. And if you go further east on the A6, the Satellite view also shows the alignment of the Randalstown to Castledawson scheme.

Does anyone know (or give a good estimate of) how much single-carriageway A6 will be left when both of these schemes are complete?

From the new Magherabuoy Roundabout, at the eastern side of Dungiven, to Castledawson Roundabout will remain as mostly 2+1 Single Carriageway.

Roughly about 15 miles at most, so.. 24, 25 kms. approx.

Chris_5339762 · 23-06-2020 10:05pm

...Very very expensive to fix that, as the Glenshane Pass is in the way.

riddlinrussell · 27-06-2020 3:03pm

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

...Very very expensive to fix that, as the Glenshane Pass is in the way.

Its a fairly quiet section as well, and with the passing lanes I cant see it being high priority for a long time in NI;

A1 deathtrap junction fixes
A6
Town Bypasses (Newry East, Ballynahinch, Enniskillen, Cookstown, North Derry improvements)
Eventually they will have to deal with europes largest illegal dump and finish the A5 link to A2 at Derry
York Street Interchange will rear its head again in some more pedestrian severance friendly form

All of those at a minimum would likely have higher priority than A6 Glenshane.

Given the shift in thinking towards PT I could see it never getting done (at least not according to any 'current' thinking on road construction).

nordydan · 17-12-2021 2:04pm

Some new vidoes here - via Wes Johnstons site - http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads/a6dungiventoderry.html)

Looks like its now due to open next Summer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fqtFp3KDDo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_cTtof9wYA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2U79U6eZro

mopen1571 · 31-03-2022 7:08pm

Does anyone know if there is parking near the new magherabuoy roundabout at Dungiven as roadworks have closed the usual bus stop.

nordydan · 01-04-2022 9:11am

As per above Dungiven bypass section openend last week

JupiterKid · 01-04-2022 8:24pm

Absolutely delighted that Dungiven is finally bypassed 45 years after early plans for a bypass were drawn up. The small Derry town will get its town centre back from heavy through traffic.

This is the first 1.6 miles (2.5 kilometres) of the major 17 km Derry to Dungiven Road project. The remainder is very close to completion and will open to traffic in the Summer. Along with the A6 dualling from Randalstown to Castledawson scheme fully open since last year, this scheme will cut Belfast to Derry journey times and make the road much safer.

yannakis · 07-03-2023 10:38pm

Is the section from Dungiven to Claudy still closed? Any sign of when it'll be opening?

xabi · 20-03-2023 12:57pm

Dungiven to Claudy is still closed, due to open fully in April.

yannakis · 04-04-2023 6:56pm

Opening on 6 Apr.

https://twitter.com/deptinfra/status/1642949987989614592

A6 dualling - Dungiven to Drumahoe [under construction]

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