A8 Belfast to Larne Dualling
Indicative visualisations of the proposed A8 dual carriageway
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Scheme Update (last updated 2 May 2012)
2 May 2012
1 May 2012
KENNEDY GIVES BELFAST TO LARNE DUAL CARRIAGEWAY GREEN LIGHT
Regional Development Minister Danny Kennedy, today, announced his decision to proceed with the £100million A8, Belfast to Larne, dual carriageway scheme.
Having considered the Inspector’s Report into the Public Inquiries on the A8 scheme, the Minister has tasked Roads Service to progress the project, taking into account the Inspector’s recommended amendments. The Inspector recommended that the proposed dual carriageway should be constructed in accordance with the preferred route, which bypasses Bruslee and Ballynure.
Construction of the scheme, by the consortium Lagan, Ferrovail and Costain, will provide 14.4 kilometres of new dual carriageway from Coleman’s Corner Roundabout to Ballyrickard Road. Work on the dual carriageway is expected to start in June this year and take two and a half years to complete.
The Department will now proceed with the making of the Statutory Orders for the scheme.
The Inspectors Report and the Department for Regional Development's, (DRD) statement on the way forward and Statutory Orders are available to download here, with hard copies being available to view until 6 July 2012 at the following offices.
Roads Service - Headquarters, Room 2-01, Clarence Court, 10-18 Adelaide Street, Belfast BT2 8GB
Roads Service – Northern Division, County Hall, Castlerock Road, Coleraine BT52 3HS;
Roads Service – Eastern Division, Hydebank, 4 Hospital Road, BT8 8JL;
Newtownabbey Borough Council, Mossley Mill, Newtownabbey, BT36 5QA;
Larne Borough Council, Smiley Buildings, Victoria Road, Larne, BT40 1RU.
6 June 2011
The following Department’s Submissions of Evidence, which will be submitted to the forthcoming Public Inquiries are now available for download.
1. Policy and Procedure (139kb)
2. Highways and Drainage,(168kb)
3. Traffic and Economics,(8612kb)
4. Environment,(423kb)
5. Agricultural impact assessments,(84kb) and
6. Contractor buildability.(1223kb)
26 May 2011
A Pre-Inquiry meeting was held on 23 May 2011. To view a copy of the Inspectors opening rem
arks click here
.
18 May 2011
A Pre-Inquiry meeting will be held at Corr's Corner Hotel, 315 Ballyclare Road, Newtownabbey BT36 4TQ, starting at 10.00 am on 23 May 2011.
If you have lodged an objection to the Orders you should already have received a letter detailing this. If you haven't already received this letter, please contact John McGill on 02890 890900.
Further documents have been added to the scheme documents page, including the Stage 3 Assessment Report. To view these click here.
April 2011
The Department have published a notice that local public inquiries will be held in Corr's Corner Hotel, 315 Ballyclare Road, Newtownabbey BT36 4TQ, starting at 10.00 am on 15 June 2011 to consider the opinions expressed in relation to the A8 Belfast to Larne dualling scheme - Environmental Statement, Direction Order, Vesting Order and Stopping-Up of Private Accesses.
To View a copy of this notice click here.
The Department have also published a notice that it has prepared an Addendum to the Environmental Statement on the effects of the proposed A8 Belfast to Larne Dual Carriageway Scheme. The addendum reports the findings of further assessments that have been undertaken in relation to traffic noise following updating of the traffic model, additional information on the Ballynure Water crossing and visual impact information for a single property at the A8/A57 Templepatrick junction.
This document should be read in conjunction with the Environmental Statement already published.
To View a copy of this notice click here.
To View the Addendum to the Environmental Statement click here .
January 2011
The Department have published an Environmental Statement, a Notice of Intention to Make a Vesting Order, a Notice of Intention to Make a Direction Order and a Notice of Intention to Make a Stopping-Up of Private Accesses Order. These notices will be published in the Belfast Gazette on 21 January 2011, in the Belfast Telegraph, Newsletter and Irish News on 19 and 26 January 2011; and in the Ballymena Guardian, Antrim Guardian, Ballyclare Gazette, Carrickfergus Advertiser, Carrick Times, Larne Times and Newtownabbey Times during weeks ending Friday 21 January 2011 and Friday 28 January 2011.
View the press release ..
If you are directly affected by any of the Orders you should already have received a letter detailing this. If you haven't already received this letter, please contact John McGill on 02890 890900.
An exhibition of the proposals will be held in Corr’s Corner Hotel, 315 Ballyclare Road, Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim, BT36 4TQ on 25 and 26 January 2011, from 2pm to 9pm. A team from the Roads Service and their engineering and environmental consultants will be available on the day to deal with any queries. View the information on display at the exhibition.
All documents and maps relating to the Scheme may be inspected by any person, free of charge, at all reasonable hours during the period from 18 January to 4 March 2011 at the Roads Service offices of:
- Northern Division, County Hall, Castlerock Road, Coleraine BT51 3HS;
- Eastern Division, Hydebank, 4 Hospital Road, Belfast BT8 8JL;
- Headquarters, Room 2-13, Clarence Court, 10-18 Adelaide Street, Belfast BT2 8GB;
and at the offices of:
- Larne Borough Council, Smiley Buildings, Victoria Road, Larne BT40 1RU; and
- Newtownabbey Borough Council, Mossley Mill, Carnmoney Road North,Newtownabbey BT36 5QA.
Alternatively, an electronic version of the Environmental Statement (Non Technical Summary) is available. During this period, further information relating to the proposals or a CD copy of the Environmental Statement may also be obtained free of charge from Roads Service - Northern Division, Strategic Road Improvement Team, County Hall, Castlerock Road, Coleraine.
Any person who wishes to express an opinion on the Environmental Statement or to object to the making of The Trunk Road T9 (Coleman’s Corner to Ballyrickard Road) Order (Northern Ireland) 2011, The Private Accesses (A8 Belfast to Larne Dual Carriageway (Coleman’s Corner to Ballyrickard Road)) Stopping-Up Order (Northern Ireland) 2011 or the proposed Vesting Order may, within the period stated above, write to the Divisional Roads Manager, Department for Regional Development, Roads Service – Northern Division, County Hall, Castlerock Road, Coleraine BT51 3HS, stating their opinion on the Environmental Statement and/or the grounds of their objection to the proposed Orders. The Department will take into consideration any representations made before deciding whether or not to proceed with the project with or without modifications.
April 2010
Following concerns raised by a number of landowners regarding the location of the proposed dual carriageway in the vicinity of Ballynure, Roads Service decided to carry out a review of the Stage 1 Assessment (Corridor Options Study). The review has now been completed and confirmed the findings of the Stage 1 Scheme Assessment Report, that the best performing option (bypassing Ballynure to the west) had been taken forward as the Preferred Route.
Download the findings of this review (listed under Stage 1 Assessment Report Addendum) or view the Executive Summary (27kb) .
February 2010
On the 26 January 2010 Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy announced that the contract for the A8 Dualling project has been awarded to the consortium Lagan / Ferrovial / Costain. (view the press release).
The latest round of one to one meetings with directly affected landowners commenced in October 2009 and is almost complete. Any views expressed are being considered and were appropriate being incorporated into the design. If you feel that you should have been contacted or wish to arrange a meeting to discuss the scheme, please call John McGill on 02890 890900.
A number of landowners have expressed their concern about the location of the proposed dual carriageway in the vicinity of Ballynure. Requests were received by Roads Service to give further consideration to routing the new dual carriageway through Ballynure. As a result a review of the Stage 1 (corridor options study) has been carried out and the findings of it will be published in the coming weeks.
The project team, including the recently appointed contractor team are currently refining the preferred route design, taking account of landowner preferences and buildability issues.
In May 2010 it is planned to carry out a further round of one to one meetings with directly affected landowners to discuss the impacts of the emerging design on their land and property. These discussions will relate primarily to access arrangements and the provision of accommodation works such as laneways, gates and fences.
In the latter part of the summer of 2010 the scheme layout will be published to inform directly affected landowners and the wider public of the developments since the publication of the preferred route in August 2009.
Over the coming weeks and months there will be a requirement for further surveys across parts of the scheme. These include geotechnical investigation, environmental surveys and topographical surveys. We appreciate your ongoing co-operation whilst these activities are carried out.
August 2009
On the 5th August 2009 Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy announced (view the press release) the Preferred Route for the A8 Belfast to Larne Dual Carriageway. The new dual carrigeway will bypass Bruslee to the East and bypass Ballynure to the West. A public exhibition event was held at Corr's Corner Hotel, Newtownabbey on the 5th and 6th of August 2009. The event gave the public an opportunity to view the preferred route and speak to the Roads Service team. Close to 800 people took the opportunity to view the information at the exhibition.
Information displayed at this public exhibition event is available to view.
Background
Roads Service is investigating the dualling of the A8 between the B95 Coleman’s Corner Junction and the B100 Ballyrickard Road Junction. The A8 is a strategically important road within Northern Ireland and is included in the recently published Investment Delivery Plan (IDP) for Roads. This stretch of the A8 currently carries in excess of 17,000 vehicles per day. With traffic levels continuing to grow, traffic congestion will increase and road safety will deteriorate. It is important to the economy of Northern Ireland that the port of Larne is serviced by an efficient road link.
In January 2007, the Irish Government announced their new National Development Plan (NDP) 2007-2013. This plan contained proposals for considerable Irish Government investment in North/South projects including the Eastern Seaboard Key transport Corridor of which the A8 is part of.
A number of studies were undertaken between 1999 and 2000 which resulted in a series of improvements to the A8. The IDP for Roads has identified the completion of the dualling of the A8 before 2017/18.
Scheme proposals
To consider all available options a scheme assessment is being carried out. This is a three stage procedure, which compares various options based on the government’s five key transport objectives of environment, safety, economy, integration and accessibility. This begins with an examination of broadly defined routes, progressing through the selection of a ‘Preferred Route’ to detailed environmental assessment and design.
The following lists briefly the the assessment progress to-date:
- A Stage 1 ‘Preliminary Options’ assessment of eight viable corridors was carried out. This resulted in two corridors (namely Corridor 1 and Corridor 2) being taken forward to Stage 2. Download the Stage 1 assessment.
- A Stage 2 ‘Preferred Route’ assessment involved a more detailed assessment including surveys to identify the key effects and factors to be taken into account when selecting and comparing the two corridor options. This resulted in the selection of a 'Preferred Route' within corridor option 1 progressing to Stage 3 as the ‘Preferred Route’.
- Download the Stage 2 assessment.
- Download the Stage 2 Preferred Route Leaflet (3374kb) .
- A Stage 3 assessment will now be untertaken. This will involve further design development of the 'Preferred Route'. This stage of assessment requires preparation of an Environmental Statement, production of a Draft Direction Order and Draft Vesting Order (Statutory Procedures).
