The M1 is a motorway in Northern Ireland. It is the longest motorway in Northern Ireland and runs for from

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 ...

Dungannon Dungannon (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2021 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Counci ...

through

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

, County Down,

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

and

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

. It forms part of the route via the A1 in Northern Ireland ( N1/M1 in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

) between Belfast and

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

as well as being a part of the unsigned European E01 and E18 routes.

Route

The road begins at the Broadway

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types 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 junct ...

to the west of

Windsor Park The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...

and running parallel to the

Blackstaff River The Blackstaff River is a watercourse in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It rises on the eastern slope of the Black Mountain (Belfast), Black Mountain before flowing down into the Bog Meadows and passing under the city of Belfast, where it ent ...

. Heading south as a dual three–lane motorway, it passes to the east of

Casement Park Casement Park () is the principal Gaelic games stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is located in Andersonstown Road in the west of the city, and is named after the Irish revolutionary Roger Casement. The stadium, which has been closed si ...

. Running through

Dunmurry Dunmurry (; ) is a suburb, suburban town and townland near Belfast, Northern Ireland. Dunmurry is in the Collin (District Electoral Area), Collin electoral ward for the Local government in Northern Ireland, local government district of Belfast C ...

and Ballyskeagh it arrives to the south of

Lisburn Lisburn ( ; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with t ...

. Traffic for

leaves at junctions 7 and 8 as the motorway enters the countryside. Now heading west past Aghnatrisk it runs parallel to and then crosses the Belfast-Dublin Railway Line followed by 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 ...

before reaching Moira. Continuing west, it passes between Killaghy and Tullydagan and to the north of

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh and roughly southwest of Belfast. The town is linked to Belfast by both the M1 motorway (Northern Ireland), M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin rail ...

and Turmoyra, across the Pound River, south of

Lough Neagh Lough Neagh ( ; ) is a freshwater lake in Northern Ireland and is the largest lake on the island of Ireland and in the British Isles. It has a surface area of and is about long and wide. According to Northern Ireland Water, it supplies 4 ...

, before its junction with the M12 at Craigavon. Crossing the

River Bann The River Bann (from , meaning "the goddess"; Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Bann Wattèr'') is the longest rivers, river in Northern Ireland, its length, Upper and Lower Bann combined, being 129 km (80 mi). The total length ...

it then enters a relatively unpopulated area. It passes south of Derryadd Lough and runs in a loop around the Annagarriff Nature Reserve before crossing the River Blackwater, skirting to the north of Tamnamore and Laghey Corner before ending at

on the A4.

History

The line of the M1 in Belfast had been planned for a road since 1946 as the ''Southern Approach Road'', though there were some disagreements on the route.The Motorway Archive – M1 (Northern Ireland)
County planners in Armagh had also been working on plans to rebuild the then T3 trunk road which suffered from poor alignments, limited speed limits and was of failing construction, some work on which had been undertaken between 1955 and 1957. These two plans were eventually upgraded into plans for the M1 by 1958. Construction began 1957 on the first bridge and subsequently the first section of the motorway. In 1964, the Northern Ireland Government announced plans for an extensive route of motorways which saw the M1 now planned to go to Dungannon. The M1 is the only motorway in Northern Ireland completed to its full planned length. The road was constructed in stages between 1962 and 1968: Prior to the opening the RUC traffic division ran a publicity campaign to educate drivers on how to drive on a motorway. At the end of 1965 UK Transport Minister Tom Fraser and his successor

Barbara Castle Barbara Anne Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, (''née'' Betts; 6 October 1910 – 3 May 2002) was a British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament from 1945 United Kingdom general elec ...

imposed a blanket 70 mph (113 km/h) speed limit on motorways in Great Britain, but the recently constructed Northern Ireland M1 remained free of a blanket speed limit for several years. *Junctions 1 to 6 opened on 10 July 1962 The motorway follows the route of the former Lagan Canal between junctions 2 and 6. The first user of the road was a motorcyclist, Robert McFall of Belfast. The section between Junctions 1 and 3 was subsequently widened to three lanes in each direction. *Junctions 6 to 7 opened on 15 December 1963 *Junctions 7 to 9 opened on 6 December 1965 *Junctions 9 to 10 opened on 28 February 1966 *Junctions 10 to 11 opened on 27 November 1967 *Junctions 11 to 12 opened on 29 January 1968 *Junctions 12 to 13 opened on 1 December 1964 *Junctions 13 to 15 opened on 23 December 1967 Junctions 12 to 15 were constructed across a

peat bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muske ...

which is up to 12 metres deep. This required the removal of 3.4 million cubic metres of peat. Several junctions were omitted from the original construction, as these were for future planned motorways. Some of these have now been used for other road plans: *Junction 3 was opened in 1988. *Junction 8 was opened in 2003. This provides access to the A1 in both directions, whilst junction 7 had its slip roads facing west closed. Junction 8 had originally been planned for a different location for the M11 motorway to relieve the A1 towards the border with the

. The M1 is straight and flat on the stretch between Junctions 9 and 10 and on the stretch between Junctions 12 and 13, and an urban myth exists claiming that these were to be used as supplementary runways by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

in the event of a major conflict with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. By the mid-2000s the M1 in

had high traffic flows at peak times and suffered from congestion. To relieve this, work commenced early in 2006 to replace the roundabout at junction 1 with a fully grade separated junction through which the M1 now flows directly onto the A12 Westlink dual carriageway. As part of the scheme, the M1 was widened from two to three lanes in each direction between Junctions 1 and 2 along with part of the Westlink. Work was also carried out on the A4 which begins at the terminus of the M1 between

and Ballygawley (approximately ) was upgraded to dual carriageway standard, opening in November 2010. In 2011 the government announced plans for two service areas in each direction between junction 3 and junction 6 near Ballyskeagh. These service stations are the first motorway service stations in Northern Ireland. They include petrol stations and restaurant facilities. Construction on the westbound service area began in November 2013 and was opened on 10 March 2016. Work on the eastbound service area began in April 2016 and was opened on 2 February 2017.

Future improvements

In 2006, the government announced plans for a £45m flyover link directly to and from the A1 and M1 eastbound. Construction was initially estimated to take place between 2010 and 2015. As of June 2016, the scheme has no projected completion date.M1 A1 link scheme
, Completion due 2018. The government also have plans to add west facing slip roads at junction 3. Junction 3 opened in 1988 with only east facing slip roads. Construction on the west facing slip roads is subject to future budget settlements.

Junctions

:''Note: There is no junction 4 or 5, these were to be built for since-cancelled schemes such as the M11 from Newry and the M8 from Belfast''

References

External links