M2 Sandyknowles Greencastle Widening and Antrim Hospital slip roads
The M2 Motorway forms part of the Trans-European Road Network and the Eastern Seaboard Corridor (identified in the Regional Development Strategy). This route provides the west and north regions with access to the Port of Belfast and the main commercial area in Northern Ireland. It also provides access from Belfast to Belfast International Airport and to the Port of Larne.
The £20 million M2 Improvements involved;
- Widening 5 kilometres of the Belfast-bound carriageway of the M2 between Sandyknowes roundabout and Greencastle interchange to provide 3 lanes.
- Replacing the substandard bridges at Hightown, Collin and Longlands.
- Widening over 0.6 kilometres of the country-bound carriageway of the M2 through the Greencastle Interchange to provide 3 lanes.
Road works on the M2 widening scheme started in March 2007 and were completed in June 2009.
This scheme was delivered using Northern Ireland's first Public Private Partnership (PPP) for road improvements. The PPP uses the Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) approach, where the road improvements were designed, constructed and financed by a private sector consortium. Highway Management (NI), which comprises of John Graham (Dromore) Limited, Northstone (NI) Ltd (formerly Farrans Ltd) and Bilfinger Berger, is the private sector consortium who constructed the M2 improvement works.
As part of this project, two additional slip roads have been provided onto the M2 Motorway at the Antrim Area Hospital junction. These were opened to the public on 29 June 2007.
