These two schemes are grouped together because they are close geographically, are funded together and are to be constructed at the same time. According to the DRD press release the scheme will see 3.8km of the A4 route between Ballygawley and Augher including a section of 2+1 lanes for overtaking opportunities in the eastbound direction. It will also see 3.1km of the A5 route straightened at a hill section between Ballygawley and Aughnacloy with climbing lanes at either side. See the links above for maps of the route.

Both will see twisty sections of the A4 and A5 straightened. This will increase average speeds, improve safety and increase overtaking opportunities. They will improve the A4 Fermanagh<>Belfast and A5 Dublin<>Derry routes. The funding is from the "PPP Package 2" announced in March 2005. This is the second of two major private sector investments in Northern Ireland's road system and will also see the A4 dualled from the end of the M1 motorway at Dungannon to Ballygawley (see link above).

Design

The Annaghilla section on the A4 between Augher and Ballygawley carried 7500 vehicles per day in 2004. The new road will run from 3.8km from its junction with Annaloughan Road to its junction with Ballynanny Road. A bend to the west of Annaloughan Road will also be removed. The road will feature staggered cross-roads at Annaloughan Road, Sess Road and Ballynanny Road. The latter two are the two tie-ins with the existing A4. A bridge will carry the Ballynasaggart Road over the new road with no access. The road will feature two lanes eastbound (as an overtaking opportunity) and one lane westbound. See Annaghilla map.

The Tullyvar section on the A5 between Ballygawley and Aughnacloy carried 5800 vehicles per day in 2004. The new road will run for 2.7km from its junction with Tullywinny Road and its junction with Lisginny Road. The road will climb up and over Tullyvar Hill and will feature climbing lanes in both directions on this stretch.  Staggered cross-roads will be provided at Lisginny Road/Aghaloo Road and

with the existing A4 where it crosses the line of the new road mid way along the stretch. See Tullyvar map.

Note on Costs

In mid 2005 the combined cost for the main A4 dualling scheme and the upgrades of A4 at Annaghilla and the A5 at Tullyvar was given as £117.7m (£102m for the A4, £15.7m for Annaghilla/Tullyvar). However by the time the scheme began in February 2008, the combined cost was given as £134. The cost of £18m stated above is an estimate which assumes that the proportions of the costs remain the same. However, when the project was completed in March 2010, the cost was given by the Minister as "£13m" which is actually lower than the original estimate.

Updates

12 Mar 2010: The Minister for Regional Development declared both the A4 Annaghilla and A5 Tullyvar schemes "completed" two days ago. This is great news for the users of both roads. Yesterday Google rolled out StreetView to the whole province. This is going to prove very useful to those interested in our roads. Since these images seem to date to about a year ago, you can clearly see the works underway at both Annaghilla and Tullyvar.

16 Feb 2010: The A4 Annaghilla realignment scheme (between Augher and Ballygawley) was partially opened to traffic earlier this month (one lane each way). The final lane, an eastbound overtaking lane, will open once the remaining works are completed, probably during March. This removes one of the last really twisty sections of road between Belfast and Enniskillen. Meanwhile, works are going on this week to connect the realigned bit of the A5 at Tullyvar (between Aughnacloy and Ballygawley) to the existing road at each end. This means that the Tullyvar scheme is likely to be opened to traffic very soon, if not in February, then certainly during March. In an interview in the Newsletter on Saturday, Roads Service's Robin Cuddy said "We are delighted in a month’s time to have the Annaghilla and Tullyvar sites fully operational. We are confident we are going to meet the programme and every effort will be made to achieve that." The Newsletter has kindly given me permission to include the three photos below.

The view east along the newly opened A4 at Annaghilla, from the equally new Halftown Road bridge. 8 Feb 2010. [Pat McSorley, courtesy of the News Letter]

The Halftown Road crosses over the newly completed A4 at Annaghilla on this new bridge. View looking south on 8 Feb 2010. [Pat McSorley, courtesy of the News Letter]

The realigned section of the A5 at Tullyvar, here seen unopened in the final stages of work. The white lines have yet to be marked. 8 Feb 2010. [Pat McSorley, courtesy of the News Letter]

14 Dec 2009: According to this press release issued last week, the completion date for the Annaghill and Tullyvar schemes is now scheduled for March 2010. This represents a delay of several months when compared to the information given in June, which was that both schemes would be completed by "late 2009". The reason for this delay is not given.

1 Oct 2009: It has emerged that the picture labelled "Tullyvar" in Road's Service's PDF file (see previous update) is not of Tullyvar at all, but rather the main A4 scheme. I have therefore deleted it.

29 Aug 2009: I have just found some pictures of these schemes which were released by Roads Service in this report to Dungannon Borough Council in June 2009. Although they're now two months old, I'm including two of them below as they show progress very well:

Halftown Bridge under construction over the realigned A4 at Annaghilla ca. June 2009.

[Roads Service photo, from this PDF file]

29 July 2009: Work is now about 75% complete on these two projects. In a press release about a month ago, the Minister said that both the Annaghilla and the Tullyvar realignment projects "are scheduled for completion in late 2009", which is welcome news. The preferred route of the A5 dual-carriageway scheme was announced last week, and it seems that the dual-carriageway will NOT utilise the line of the road being built at Tullyvar. This at least means that the new road will not be dug up again after just a few years, and will be much safer during the interim period.

16 June 2009: The photograph below was taken by Paul McIlfatrick at the western end of the A4 Annaghilla scheme. It shows the good progress being made on the scheme to straighten out a series of bad bends on the A4 here.

Looking west on the A4 at Annaghilla on 26 May 2009. [Paul McIlfatrick]

Looking west along the future A4 towards Halftown Bridge on 26 May 2009. [Paul McIlfatrick]

7 June 2009: At a meeting with Fermanagh District Council two weeks ago, Roads Service stated that the Annaghilla scheme is due to be completed by Autumn 2009, earlier than expected. No mention is made of Tullyvar, so it's unclear if it will also be ready at this time.

10 Dec 2008: Roads Service published two leaflets on these schemes in November 2008 (Annaghilla leaflet, Tullyvar leaflet) which provided summaries of the information already known. They confirmed that the schemes are due to be completed by "the end of the 2010/11 financial year", ie by April 2011. At almost 3 1/2 years, this seems like an incredibly long time for such relatively small schemes. There is no mention of the fact that the long term need for the Tullyvar scheme is now in doubt due to the much larger plan to upgrade the entire A5. However, on safety grounds, the scheme is probably still justified due to the fact that it will be a number of years before the major A5 upgrade is completed. The leaflets include the following two photos which illustrate progress quite well, although no dates are given:

Work progressing at Annaghilla at some point in 2008 [from this Roads Service leaflet].

Work progressing at Tullyvar at some point in 2008 [from this Roads Service leaflet].

13 Feb 2008: The first sod on the A4 dualling scheme, which includes the Annaghilla/Tullyvar upgrades, was cut today with completion due in December 2010. It's not clear if work here will begin immediately or indeed if it will end before December 2010. The cost also seems to have risen slightly, to approximately £18m.

22 Nov 2007: According to the Roads Service "roadworks" page, advance site clearance work began at Tullyvar on 12 Nov 2007, and at Annaghilla on 19 November, both to last about 3 weeks. It is unknown if the planned dualling scheme on the A5 announced a couple of weeks ago has affected plans for the Tullyvar part of this scheme.

13 Nov 2007: According to a Written Answer on this page from the Minister for Regional Development, commencement on this project has been pushed back to "early 2008" from "late 2007". This coincides with the start of the main A4 dualling scheme and the likely explanation is that the two are due to be taken forward as part of the same contract.

August 2006: It now seems likely that although they were planned before the A4 dualling scheme, they will be constructed as part of that contract and at the same time.