The A515 forms part of a partial "ring road" around the city of Derry, beginning with the Crescent Link on the Waterside, then across the Foyle Bridge, along Madam's Bank Road, along the Skeoge Link and terminating on the A2 Buncrana Road. All of this is dual-carriageway except for a 2.3km sub-standard stretch in the middle which is still two-lane single-carriageway standard.

The map below shows this stretch in blue and red. This scheme will see the red section widened to four lane single-carriageway standard (two lanes each way separated by a white line). Once complete, only the section shown in blue will remain two lanes wide on the entire "ring road". Hopefully this final gap will be plugged in due course.

The scheme is being progressed in parallel with the works to upgrade Culmore Road Roundabout, Phase 1 of which took place in the first half of 2010 and was announced in July 2010. The widening works will begin at this roundabout and extend as far as Ballyarnet roundabout. The existing road is urban in character with right-turn pockets and at least one pedestrian crossing. The Ballyarnet end of the existing road features a short overtaking lane for southbound traffic. Widening the road will involve encroaching on adjacent land which is currently a mixture of grass and trees, but should not require any property demolition.

Updates

20 Mar 2012: I have been told that this scheme is now completed, and the contractor left the site sometime in the past fortnight. The traffic signals were activated on 4th March. With thanks to Stephen Baxter and Robin Cunningham. FP McCann have done an excellent job, and it is marvelous that another stretch of the A515 now has two lanes each way. Now all we have to do is hope that the final 1km-odd stretch between here and Skeoge Link is widened to finish the job!

27 Feb 2012: This update is to bring you the first photos of the scheme underway, with thanks to Marc Sweeney. These pictures were all taken travelling northbound from Culmore Road roundabout. If these images are anything to judge by, the scheme is not far from completion. It seems that the remaining surface has to be laid, traffic signals installed and activated, and road markings put down.

View north west along Madam's Bank Road from just north of Culmore Road roundabout, with the final surface layer being put down on 24 Feb 2012. [Marc Sweeney]

View north west along Culmore Road at the Steelstown Road junction which is being signalised. The road is still limited to one land each way. 24 Feb 2012. [Marc Sweeney]

A little further north west at the Earhart Park junction, which is also being signalised as part of the scheme. 24 Feb 2012. [Marc Sweeney]

10 Feb 2012: Work appears to be progressing well on this scheme. I contacted the contractor, who told me that the work is currently due to be completed by the end of March. With thanks to them. If anyone has any pictures of the work in progress, I would be delighted to share them here!

9 Nov 2011: The Autumn Report to Derry City Council, just released, gives the cost of this scheme as £1.6m, which is good to know, and confirms that the scheme will be completed in January. It also confirms that an application has been made to Interreg for part-funding, but presumably it is not yet known whether this will be successful.

6 Sep 2011: The contractor began work on site yesterday. According to a press release issued 5 days ago, the work is due to pause over Christmas and be completed "in" January 2012. Roads Service comment in the press release that "During construction, Madam’s Bank Road and side roads will remain open to traffic and pedestrians/cyclists, but will be subject to mobile traffic management measures." This is currently the only road improvement scheme under way in Northern Ireland: a sign of the economic climate.

23 July 2011: The construction contract was awarded to FP McCann on 18th July. This is a different contractor from either of the two contractors involved in the adjacent and ongoing Culmore Road roundabout upgrade. Because this scheme ties in to that one it's not clear whether this scheme can begin immediately, but in the current economic climate the contractor will probably be keen to start work as soon as possible.

5 June 2011: The scheme is now out to tender, with a closing date of 24th June. The tender gives some more details about exactly what is proposed:

• on-line widening of the existing carriageway to provide two traffic lanes in each direction
• a 3 metre wide shared footway / cycleway along both sides.
• signalising the Steelstown Road and Earhart Park junctions
• new carriageway drainage and street lighting
• low level stone faced retaining walls in the cut section.

There is no indication of when work will begin, but it would make sense to do it soon since the Culmore Road roundabout, at the south end of this stretch, is being upgraded as we speak.

1 May 2011: The planned tender for this scheme is still on the Roads Service web site. There was a suggestion that it might take place along with Phase 2 of the Culmore Road roundabout upgrade (see link above), but that scheme is now underway and so far this does not seem to be the case. We therefore cannot say when this scheme will proceed except that it is still marked as "future".

10 Feb 2011: The tender referred to in the previous update was not released in December as anticipated. Instead, it has been rescheduled for release in May 2011.

19 Oct 2010: A tender for resurfacing and structural works on Madam's Bank Road has appeared on the Roads Service web site, with an estimated release date of December 2010. This may refer to the widening works. No cost is given.