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| A55 Outer
Ring widening at King's Road, Belfast |
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Status
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Construction scheme
(completed)
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Where
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To widen
the A55 Outer Ring from 1 lane each way to
2 lanes each way from Upper Newtownards
Road to Cherryvalley
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Total
Length
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0.56 km / 0.35 miles
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Dates
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Proposed in Belfast
Urban Area Plan 1989
Scheme completed during 2001
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Cost
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?
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Photos
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See below. |
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See
Also
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General
area map - Google Maps
A55
Outer Ring widening at Knock -
(planned scheme) on this site
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The A55 Outer Ring forms a 3/4 ring round Belfast.
However, the south and eastern sections are the
busiest as these are part of the strategic road
network serving not only local traffic, but
long-distance traffic moving between North Down/Ards
and the rest of the Province. Before 2001, all of
this part of the Outer Ring had two lanes in each
direction except for a 1.1 km / 0.7 mile stretch
between Upper Newtownards Road and Sandown Road. A
scheme to upgrade this stretch to dual-carriageway
had been in planning since 1969, but nothing
happened. The scheme was resurrected in the Belfast
Urban Area Plan of 1989, and over the following 12
years Roads Service bought almost all the properties
along the south-east side of the road and demolished
the bulk of them.
Congestion steadily rose here as the Outer Ring
southbound reduced from two lanes to one at the
Upper Newtownards Road, leading to long tailbacks.
By 2001 it was apparent that there was no money to
proceed with the dualling scheme in the foreseeable
future, so it was decided to go ahead with a more
limited scheme. This scheme would see the northern
560 metres widened to four lane single-carriageway
standard (two lanes each way) from Upper Newtownards
Road, past the King's Road junction and a little
further to Cherryvalley. The result of this would be
the reduction in capacity would come south of King's
Road, and hence have less of an impact on the busy
Upper Newtownards Road junction.
The scheme was carried out during 2001, with all the
widening taking place on the east side of the road.
If you have Google Earth, you can see the work on
the scheme underway by switching on historical mode
(the clock symbol at the top) and going back to the
2001 imagery. There is no way to link to this here,
unfortunately.
The scheme succeeded in reducing delays at the Upper
Newtownards Road junction. At the time of writing
(Nov 2011), the scheme
to upgrade the remaining section of the Outer
Ring is still
in planning, 42 years after being first proposed.
Photos
These are all links to Google Streetview:
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