The city of Derry boasts a ring road that encircles more than half the city, round the east and north of the city. It does not have an equivalent on the south and western sides of the city, which has comparatively less development. The dynamic of traffic in the city is likely to change when the A5 - which leads to Strabane, Omagh and on to Dublin - is upgraded to dual-carriageway standard over the coming few years. A feasiblity study published in 2010 suggested a number of road improvements in the city, one of which is a new road around the south and west of the city.

The report acknowledges that the purpose of such a road would need to be carefully considered, given that the traffic it could be expected to attract is not great (see next paragraph) and given that the topography is extremely challenging for road construction. One of the main benefits of the road would, in fact, be to provide access to future housing land to the south of the city. Just over 3300 new houses are currently envisaged for the lands it would serve. One possible route is shown on the map below, but it should be stressed that this is very vague and no route study had even occurred.

The report concludes by suggesting that further, more detailed, work is needed to develop the proposal. It should also be noted that there would be very little benefit to the new road unless it was preceded by the construction of a third bridge over the Foyle to connect it to the A5 - see links above.

The feasibility report estimates that the usage of the road would not be very high. Of the 2300 vehicles arriving into the city on the A40 Letterkenny Road each day, about 18% could be expected to take advantage of such a road. Of the 6100 who arrive into the city on the main A5 road – and assuming the third bridge over the Foyle was also built – the same proportion could be expected to use the new road. Finally, of the 5800 vehicles who arrive into the city on the A2 Buncrana Road, 27% could be expected to use the new road. So the total number of vehicles originating outside the city who would use the new road daily would likely be around 3100. This ignores local traffic within the city, some of which would also use the new road.