The A8(M) is a

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. It is 1 mile (1.6 km) long and is a spur of the

M2 motorway This is a list of roads designated M2: Europe * M2 motorway (Great Britain), a motorway in England * M2 expressway (Hungary), a motorway in Hungary * N2 road (Ireland)#M2 motorway, a motorway in the Republic of Ireland * M-2 highway (Monteneg ...

. It was opened on 24 October 1966The Motorway Archive – M2 Northern Ireland Dates page
and built at the same time as the M2 section to which it connects. It is part of the unsigned

European routes The international E-road network is a numbering system for roads in Europe developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The network is numbered from E1 up and its roads cross national borders. It also reaches Centr ...

E01 and E18. The A8(M) does not meet any other motorways directly, with one end connecting to the A8, and the other connecting to the A6. The

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford Eng ...

junction which links the A8(M) to the M2CBRD Motorway Database – A8(M) (NI)
URL accessed 17 June 2006 is the A6. Although both sides of the road are the same width, the northbound direction has three lanes, one of which is only partly open to traffic, while southbound only has two. Despite being one of the shortest motorways in Northern Ireland, it still includes matrix displaysPathetic motorways – A8(M)
URL accessed 17 June 2006 and is classified as a separate road, unlike other similar spurs, such as the Walton Summit motorway spur of the

M65 motorway The M65 is a motorway in Lancashire, England. It runs from just south of Preston through the major junction of the M6 and M61 motorways, east past Darwen, Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley, Brierfield, Nelson and ends at Colne. History The ...

, which are classified as parts of other motorways.

History

In 1956 proposals for several motorways, including the M2, were announced with the M2 running directly to

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

.Northern Ireland Roads Site – History of Motorway Plans
/ref> Part of this alignment became the A8(M) when in 1964 further plans changed the route of the M2 via Antrim to

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern ...

, away from its original direct alignment over difficult

terrain Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin word ...

,The Motorway Archive – M2 (Northern Ireland)
which is how the plans for construction were then progressed. This road was already under construction at

Newtownabbey Newtownabbey ( ) is a large settlement in North Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is separated from the rest of the city by Cavehill and Fortwilliam golf course. It surrounds Carnmoney Hill, and was formed from the merging of sever ...

, so it was left as a spur. This section was renamed the A8(M) as it links to the A8 continuing as an

A-road A roads may be * motorways or freeways, usually where the local word for motorway begins with A (for example, ''Autobahn'' in German; ''Autostrada'' in Italian). * main roads or highways, in a system where roads are graded A, B and sometimes lowe ...

all the way to

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid a ...

.Northern Ireland Roads Site – A8(M)
/ref>

Junctions

References

External links

*CBRD
The Motorway Database – A8(M)

Northern Ireland film
(

QuickTime QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Created in 1991, the latest Mac version, QuickTime X, is a ...

)
Northern Ireland Roads Site – A8(M)Pathetic Motorways: A8(M)
{{DEFAULTSORT:8-0008 Motorways in Northern Ireland Roads in County Antrim

History

Junctions

See also

References

External links