The A514 Crescent Link connects the A515 Foyle Bridge (and hence the northern half of the city side of Derry) to the main A6 road towards Belfast at Lisnagelvin. 1km of the route at the Foyle Bridge end was converted to dual-carriageway by the private developers of the Crescent Link Retail Park who also installed a new roundabout part way along the road. It opened in March 2004. Another 700 metre stretch with another roundabout opened in November 2006. The combined £1.8m cost of those schemes was met by the developer.

The funding for the rest of the scheme was expected between 2010 and 2015 according to the emerging RSTN transport plan of 2003, but this was brought forward to 2005-2010 by the time the proper RSTN plan was released in 2005. According to the report by Roads Service presented to Derry City Council in June 2006, it was said that possible that work could begin in Spring 2007, subject to statutory procedures being completed. This press release in November 2006 seemed to confirm this. Work eventually began in April 2007 and was due to be completed by the end of October, although in the end the project ran over this timescale by one month.

The project to dual the Crescent Link became increasingly important as more and more housing developments were added along the route, but also because it leads across the Foyle Bridge to the Skeoge Link, a dual-carriageway under construction (as of Dec 2007) on the north west side of the city. It will serve up to 20,000 new homes. It would be hard to justify a dual-carriageway road only accessible via a single-carriageway. It is good to see the dualling finally completed as it has proceeded in an incredibly piecemeal manner.

Junction Restrictions

In order to improve safety, some right-turns were be banned when the scheme was completed:

• Vehicles are not allowed to turn right out of Lisnagelvin Road or Knightsbridge. You are still able to turn right *into* these roads however.
• Vehicles are not allowed to turn right either into *or* out of Altnagelvin Hospital. This restriction does not, however, apply to emergency vehicles which are allowed to make these right turns.

Photographs

Looking east along the completed stretch of the Crescent Link in Jan 2008. The break in the central median permits emergency vehicles from the fire station to the right to cross the road. [Photo by Marc Sweeney]

The view from Lisnagelvin Road to the new dual-carriageway in Jan 2008. This junction now permits left-only exits, although vehicles may still turn right into it. [Photo by Marc Sweeney]

Updates

14 Dec 2007: With thanks to Stephen Baxter who noted that the road was opened to traffic around the start of December, possibly a little earlier. The road now has a 40mph speed limit for part of its length.

13 Nov 2007: This press release from early November 2007 has discreetly shifted the completion date forward by a month to "late November 2007" when it was announced as "late October 2007" when the scheme commenced in the Spring.

23 Jul 2007: The original cost was given as £5m, which may be partly met by private developers. This month the Roads Service updated their web site and gave the scheme cost as £1.5m. Since the cost is unlikely to have fallen by 70%, it's likely that this represents the government's contribution.  The junction restrictions outlined above were also publicised on the site.