The Belfast Urban Motorway was a proposed

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 ...

system in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

announced in 1964, but was never completed. Only the Western portion was built as the A12, Westlink. It was to be built in three phases: Phase 1, from the M1 at Broadway to the M2 at York Street; Phase 2, from the M2 at York Street across the

River Lagan The River Lagan (; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ''Lagan Wattèr'') is a major river in Northern Ireland which runs from the Slieve Croob mountain in County Down to Belfast where it enters Belfast Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea. The ...

to the M3 at the bottom of the Newtownards Road; and Phase 3, from the Newtownards Road south through Short Strand, back across the River Lagan, through Shaftesbury Square to join the start at the M1.

Route

The proposed route would have, start at the M2 from the north, with junctions at York Street, Clifton Street, and then Divis Street. The road would then continue to veer right, travelling towards the South, with a junction at Governor Street, and another onto the M1, the Motorway would then travel towards the East, with a junctions at Bradbury Place, another serving both University Road and Lisburn Road, and another at the Ormeau Road. Then the proposed M4 would have joined here, then another junction at Albertbridge Road, before crossing the

. The Motorway then follows the eastern bank of the River Lagan, before passing through the Mountpottinger area. The Motorway would then veer to the north, with a major junction for the M3, which would also serve the proposed M7, heading for Bangor and Dundonald respectively. This junction would also serve the Bridge End area, but the Short Strand area would have been largely obliterated by this scheme. The Motorway would continue north, crossing back over the

, with a junction serving the M2.

History

Terence O'Neill Terence Marne O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of the Maine, Privy Council of Northern Ireland, PC (NI) (10 September 1914 – 12 June 1990), was the fourth Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and leader (1963–1969) of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). ...

. the then Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, planned major schemes to improve the financial situation of

, this included the Belfast Urban Motorway, to improve quality of roads in and out of Belfast and also to link other planned Motorways, most notably the M2, M1, M3 and M4. The Scheme was proposed in 1964, along with the wider province wide Motorway system. The scheme was incredibly complex and ambitious, at the time it was estimated that the entire project could be completed for £41.2m, £460m in 2001 prices.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2-0002 Motorways in Northern Ireland Roads in Belfast Roads in County Antrim

Route

Route

History

See also

References