The A26 is the key route that connects the large town of Coleraine and the rest of the north coast to Belfast via Ballymoney, Ballymena and Antrim. It thus carries a large amount of traffic (15,000 vehicles per day from Glarryford to the A44). This section of dual-carriageway runs north from the end of the existing M2 Ballymena bypass to Glarryford cross-roads, about a third of the way to Ballymoney. After Glarryford, there are only a few short sections of dual-carriageway for the rest of the route to Coleraine.

A nice feature of this part of the A26 is that close to Glarryford the carriageways split to cross the River Main on two parallel bridges - one historic and one modern. It is nice that the planners did not simply demolish or widen the existing bridge but left it intact.

A scheme is in the pipeline that will see the next part of the A26 dualled - from Glarryford to the A44 Ballycastle road junction. Once complete, two thirds of the route from Ballymena to Ballymoney will be dualled. See future schemes.

With thanks to Patrick Shiels for dating this scheme.