4 Dec 2009: Vehicles are now using the new road at three separate locations: A 1km stretch from the existing A1 to the Sheepbridge junction is now open to traffic (with one lane each way). Drivers here have been reporting just how massive the Sheepbridge interchange feels. To the west of Newry, all traffic is currently using one side of the new road for 1.5km (again, one lane each way). On Thursday, 3rd December traffic was allowed onto a 1km stretch over the top of the Cloghogue flyover (also one lane each way). This is an effort to ease traffic, because last year thousands of Southern shoppers flocking to Newry for cheap purchases virtually blocked the A1 here. Roads Service have warned drivers that this is not permanent, and the flyover may have to close again in the New Year. The Belfast Telegraph notes that almost 1/3 of the length of the new road is now in use.

The pictures below are samples taken from a much larger set of images posted by GrubyNH four days ago on Skyscraper City which I strongly encourage you to look at. They show just how impressive the new road is, and how advanced it is in places. The only thing that takes the shine off the success is the howler of a spelling mistake on one of the direction signs - rather embarrassing!

Although the scheme was expected to be completed by "late 2010", it now looks as if the scheme will be completed much earlier than this, perhaps in the Summer. Three weeks ago the Minister said "[The scheme] is several months ahead of programme with the construction contractor indicating that they expect to maintain this momentum. Fifteen of the seventeen major structures on the scheme have been completed and work on the remaining two is well advanced." A marvellous piece of work.

The completed A1 looking north from Sheepbridge interchange on 26 Nov 2009,
now being used by one lane of traffic each way. [GrubyNH]

View south from the same location as above, illustrating the sheer scale of the Sheepbridge interchange. Traffic currently leaves the road here. [GrubyNH]

Carnbane interchange on the unopened A1, 26 Nov 2009. [GrubyNH]

Erroneous new sign on the A1 at Carnbane, with glaring typo in "Downpatrick". [GrubyNH]

The uncompleted A1 with the bridge over the Newry River ahead, 26 Nov 2009. [GrubyNH]

Work underway on the A1, and on the bridge that will carry the A1
over the Bessbrook River, here seen on 26 Nov 2009. [GrubyNH]

Looking south along the A1 with Camlough Road interchange in the foreground, and the existing Newry Bypass curving off to the left. 26 Nov 2009. [GrubyNH]

2 Nov 2009: The scheme is now about 2/3 complete, and the scheme is starting to look close to what it will eventually be like in several locations. There is a fear that this Christmas will see a repeat of last year's chaos, when an influx of shoppers from the Republic of Ireland led to tailbacks at the roadworks that effectively blocked the A1. Local papers have reported that there is a plan to open the Cloghogue flyover temporarily over Christmas to help with this problem, although I have not heard this confirmed by Roads Service. The three photos below were taken about a week ago.

Pic 1: Drainage being installed along part of the new
road near canrbane on 23 Oct 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

Pic 2: The bridge that will carry the new A1 over Tandragee Road. 23 Oct 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

Pic 3: The twin carraigeways of the future A1 very evident looking south
from what will be Carnbane junction. 23 Oct 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

12 Oct 2009: On 30 September traffic moved onto part of the new road for the first time. According to site visitor Gordon Nabney, the Sheepbridge junction to the north of Newry is now complete. This is the point at which the new road diverges from the line of the existing A1, and traffic is now using part of the new carriageway from there north as far as Beech Hill. At the other side of the city, traffic is now using the future northbound carriageway between Cloghogue and Camlough Road, although the Cloghogue flyover is not yet in use. Along this stretch work is now underway to complete the southbound carriageway. Completion, by the original timetable, is now just over a year away, but right now progress seems to be at least on schedule, if not ahead.

1 Oct 2009: The new Newry railway station reportedly opened at the start of September. There have been some hints in DRD meeting minutes (for example this one two weeks ago) that there might be an intention to open the southern part of the scheme early. The relevant sentence is "...discussed the advantages of coordinating the opening of the Newry Bus and Rail station and the Cloghogue scheme." It's not clear from the document, but if the "Cloghogue scheme" refers to the upgrade of the A1 then it's possible that this part of the scheme may be opened along with the official opening of the new Newry rail station.

8 Sep 2009: Progress is continuing to advance well. Large sections of the new road now have their subsurface layers down, although other sections - particularly those that subsume the current road - are less advanced. Many of the structures are nearing completion. Picture 1 below shows the flyover at Cloghogue roundabout which is not yet in use, but progressing well. Picture 2 below shows the new offline stretch of the A1 seen crossing Tandragee Road. Pictures 3 and 4 show the view north and south from the bridge that carries the road to Newry railway station, illustrating the degree of progress on the Newry Bypass. Picture 4, in particular, highlights the differences in progress on relatively close sections.

Pic 1: Cloghogue roundabout seen looking towards Dublin on 5 Sep 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

Pic 2: Tandragee Road bridge carrying the future A1,
seen from Carnbane on 5 Sep 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

Pic 3: View north from the railway station on 5 Sep 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

Pic 4: View south from the railway station on 5 Sep 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

21 August 2009: These three photos were taken around Camlough Road from a train on the embankment overlooking the A1 about ten days ago. They show the good progress that is being made here, with the road surface now down in places.

Pic 1: The new A1 just north of Camlough Road, with a new overbridge
completed and the road surface going down. [Norman Johnston]

Pic 2: Grandstand view of the new Camlough Road junction. [Norman Johnston]

Pic 3: The new A1 just south of Camlough Road, with the site of the future northbound offslip in the foreground. Note the vertical-walled embankment, suggesting space is at a premium at this location. [Norman Johnston]

27 July 2009: Progress at the south end of the Newry Bypass can be gauged by this photograph of the new junction at Cloghogue, where the bridge beams now appear to be in place. This is the spot where the hundreds of blasts took place up until the springtime, due to the fact that the junction and its sliproads are being built on the edge of a mountainside.

The new A1 junction at Cloghogue taking shape, with some of
the bridge beams in place, on 22 July 2009. [Nessan McGarvey]

6 July 2009: This update is also simply to bring more photos, which were provided by site visitor Aubrey Dale in mid June. The first picture shows one of the two new bridges at Canbane, this one completed and in use by local traffic. The second and third photos were taken from a bridge that is being provided over the new A1 north of Camlough Road to serve Newry's new railway station, and show the good progress that is being made on the new dual-carriageway itself.

One of the two bridges at Carnbane completed and in use
by local traffic as seen on 13 June 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

The view north from the new railway access bridge north of Camlough Road, showing the road surface itself taking shape on the new A1 on 13 June 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

The view south along the future A1 from the same railway access bridge, with
Camlough Road flyover in the foreground. Seen on 13 June 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

23 May 2009: According to the Minister of Regional Development, the project is currently running "two months ahead of schedule", which is good news. He also said that there were currently no plans to open parts of the scheme ahead of other parts as they are completed.

16 May 2009: This update is purely to bring more photos, once again thanks to site visitor Aubrey Dale. They show that progress is going extremely well with many of the major junctions taking shape. The beams are in place at Camlough Road flyover (pic 1) while the bridge abutments at Cloghogue (pic 2, one of the most challenging junctions) are finally taking shape. The new road itself is also taking shape, as shown in picture 3.

Pic 1: Camlough Road flyover with beams in place as seen on 14 May 2009. This is the point where the dual-carriageway from the north joins the existing Newry Bypass. [Aubrey Dale]

Pic 2: Bridge abutment taking shape on the Belfast side of Cloghogue roundabout. The lorry is heading north onto the existing Newry Bypass. Seen on 14 May 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

Pic 3: The northbound carriageway of the new road taking shape beside the existing Newry Bypass, seen looking north from Bernish Road on 14 May 2009. Traffic will soon transfer to the new carriageway while the existing road is upgraded to carry southbound traffic. [Aubrey Dale]

5 May 2009: As the project approaches the half way point (completion expected "late 2010") the residents of Newry will hopefully soon have seen the last of the blasts which have taken place 2 or 3 times a week at Cloghogue for the past year. These blasts, required to remove the cliff face to make way for the new junction, were paused briefly in April after reports that a vehicle belonging to a council official outside the exclusion zone was hit by debris after one blast. The blasts were quickly resumed after an investigation. For the rest of this week, the end of the existing A1 dual-carriageway at Beech Hill, north of Newry, will be reduced to one lane to allow part of the new A1 to be tied in to the existing road. Progress on the road itself continues to go well. The picture below shows the situation at Carnbane, showing the metal bridge beams now in place above Tandragee Road.

Bridge beams in place at Tandragee Road (Carnbane) on 28 April 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

16 Feb 2009: Work is continuing to proceed, with more and more of the "final" structures in place every week. The blasting at Cloghogue roundabout is continuing. A total of 150 blasts have to take place by May 2009: 70 of these had been completed by November 2008 according to Roads Service. This work is necessary to create enough space for the new grade separated junction at this location which is situated on the side of a mountain. Aubrey Dale has meanwhile provided two more photographs of progress at the Carnbane junction - see below. We are now just over a year into this challenging three year project.

Looking north along the line of the A1 from Tandragee Road, at Carnbane,
on 14 Feb 2009. The A1 will eventually pass overhead here. [Aubrey Dale]

Looking east towards the southern abutment of the bridge that will carry the A1 over Tandragee Road, Newry on 14 Feb 2009. The A1 will run from left to right here. [Aubrey Dale]

15 Jan 2009: Work is continuing apace, and we now have three photos of progress at the northern end of the scheme. Pictures 1 and 2 show the flyover that will carry the sliproads road over the new A1 now in place (see strip map above). These pictures were taken on the south side of the flyover. Picture 3 shows work at the Carnbane junction, to the south of the previous images. These are the pillars that will eventually carry the main A1 dual-carriageway over Tandragee Road. This view is looking north away from Newry.

Pic 1: The eastern end of Sheepbridge flyover seen on 10 Jan 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

Pic 2: The western end of Sheepbridge flyover seen on 10 Jan 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

Looking north from Tandragee Road towards pillars that will carry
the future A1 over it. Seen on 10 Jan 2009. [Aubrey Dale]

16 Nov 2008: Roads Service have released a leaflet which describes the scheme but, most interestingly, shows some very nice artist's impressions of each of the junctions on the new road. It also includes a photograph of the works underway, presumably some time in the past few months:

Works underway on the A1 near Newry, circa Autumn 2008. [Roads Service Leaflet]

21 Oct 2008: According to an Assembly written answer from 17 Oct, completion of the scheme is now due in "late 2010". Prior to the commencement of the project (in 2005) the duration of the scheme was estimated at two years. When the contract was signed, and work was about to begin, this was revised to "30 to 36 months". The current estimated completion of "late 2010" is at the upper end of this timescale window. Work on rock blasting at Cloghogue has been ongoing now for several months. Due to the proximity of the A1, this has involved closing the A1 for twenty minutes at a time for each blast, which usually occur once or twice per week.

5 May 2008: The Roads Service web site is now ambiguously giving the completion date of the scheme as "winter 2010" which could mean either "Jan/Feb 2010" or "Dec 2010" depending on which winter they mean. The duration of the project was estimated as two years in 2007. Since work actually began in Dec 2007, if the completion date means "Jan/Feb 2010" then the scheme is still on schedule. If however it means "Dec 2010" then this represents a substantial delay in completion of the scheme. The Roads Service web site is also still quoting the outdated cost of "£109m" when the actual figure was confirmed to be in excess of £150m two months ago.

14 Apr 2008: The problems of February seem to have been overcome in that work is progressing once again. Site visitor Alan Mannis provided photos of the works adjacent to the existing Newry Bypass (ie the south half of the scheme) as they appeared in early March showing that substantial earthworks are underway all along the route. Other visitors have reported that earthworks on the "offline" section north of Newry are also progressing well. As yet, no recognisable elements of the new road have appeared - understandable since opening is almost two years away.

Earthworks beside the existing A1 Newry Bypass near Cloghogue in early April 2008. [Alan Mannis]

The enormous route corridor of the future dual-carriagway crossing the path of the existing A1 Newry Bypass near Camlough Road in early April 2008. [Alan Mannis]

3 Mar 2008: The cost of the scheme is now confirmed to be £152m. This is a considerable cost increase over the £109m quoted in 2006 and may be partly explained by rises in land values.

13 Feb 2008: Today it emerged that the contractors stopped work on the site at the end of December, and that NO WORK has taken place in the six weeks since. Roads Service say that while topsoil was being removed, potential archaeological remains have been uncovered. The contractor is now said to be negotiating with the Environment and Heritage Service to discern the next step. Local politicans are extremely unhappy at the situation.

1 Feb 2008: The Roads Service is now listing this scheme as "underway" so we must assume that the contract has officially begun. As advanced works have been underway for almost a year, however, we really don't have a specific start date. The estimated duration of the scheme is two years, so completion is expected in early 2010. As noted under costs below, the cost of the scheme seems to have risen, perhaps to £132m due to rising land costs.

22 Dec 2007: The contract for the scheme has now been signed - according to this press release it happened on 17 December. This means that work may well get underway in January. Since the completion date of "late 2009" was dependent on the project beginning in "Oct 2007", a delay of 3 months means that completion is now likely in early 2010.

16 Dec 2007: Although site clearance works are well underway (see photos below) the main contract has not yet begun, despite Roads Service saying that work would begin in October. The reason for this delay, which is frustrating road users on the A1, is unclear.

27 Sep 2007: Advanced site clearance work, prior to the bird nesting season, took place in Spring 2007. Roads Service are now saying that the main contract will begin in October 2007, with completion due in "late 2009". They have also released a map, linked to at the top of the page as well as here.

29 March 2007: Advanced site clearance works have been underway for a number of weeks now, with the main contract due to follow it.

This page contains old, archived progress updates for the A1 dualling scheme from Beech Hill to Cloghogue, otherwise known as the "new" Newry Bypass. For the main page, click here.