Click here to jump straight down to updates for this scheme.

A major housing development in the Mullinure area of Armagh has been proposed for many years. However, work finally got underway on the first phase in November 2018. The initital work is the construction of a new 700 metre link road to connect the site of the new housing development to the A3 Portadown Road. The new road will replace Mullinure Lane which has some semi-rural properties on it but is not suitable for carrying large quantities of traffic. The road will join the A3 at a new 4-arm roundabout (at Drumadd Road) and will terminate at another new roundabout at the north end where the new road will rejoin the existing Mullinure Link. The route will be built to two-lane single-carriageway standard, ie one lane each way separated by a white line. The map below shows the route of the new link road:

Note that this scheme is NOT the same as either the Armagh North and West Link or the Armagh East Link, both of which are strategic schemes which were still proposals at the time of writing (Dec 2018).

With thanks to Johnny Knox for alerting me to this scheme.

Updates

9 Nov 2019: The Mullinure Link opened to traffic around 8am on Friday, November 1 after just under a year of construction. Congratulations to all involved, especially the contractor Charles Brand Civil Engineering. Google Earth have updated their imagery of the area (though it's only visible in "historical mode" on Google Earth). The picture below shows the north end of the road under construction in February 2019. It currently stops at this roundabout (which has slightly unusual geometry), as it is designed to serve housing development that is now underway there.

Pic 1: Satellite view from Google Earth showing the north end of the Mullinure Link road as it was on 7 February 2019. The existing Mullinure Lane can be seen running parallel to it on the right, serving a number of homes. [Google Earth]

13 Jun 2019: ArmaghI have published some great photographs of progress on the scheme on their web site here. They show the road very advanced with the road structure, drainage, kerbing and street lighting all in place. The final part of the job is to lay the tarmac to the carriageway and the footways. At the rate it seems to be progressing the new road could well be completed ahead of the anticipated August completion date, perhaps in early July. With thanks to Gerald Lennon for alerting me to these photos.

27 Dec 2018: Earthworks on this scheme seem to have been underway by October 2018, with a press release indicating the commencement of work being published on 13 November 2018. Herron Contractors Ltd, who appear to be working on the road, posted some photos on Facebook in late October. With a nine month project duration the scheme should be completed by August 2019. Thanks to Johnny Knox for giving me a heads-up about this scheme.