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Client
Department for Regional Development, Northern Ireland Roads Service
Poject Value
£19 million
Services Provided
Cost Audits, Target Cost Agreement, Cost Management and Benchmarking
About the project
Construction of a 3.5km dual carriageway including the design and construction of a landmark bowstring arch bridge over the River Bann. The main Belfast to Londonderry road begins as the M2 motorway which then becomes the M22 as far as Randalstown. The bypass was first proposed in the 1960s and recommended in the 1984 Antrim Area Plan. In 1998 the government finally announced the plan to proceed. A year later a one-way traffic system was introduced to keep traffic flowing in the interim and construction finally began in May 2002 and was completed in March 2004.
The new road was completed to full dual-carriageway standard with two roundabouts in very close proximity. Traffic levels upon opening were 22,000 vehicles per day and the effect on the village has been amazing as traffic levels have dramatically fallen. The other main point of note is the wonderfully elegant bow string bridge that carries the road over the River Bann. The river has a fragile ecology, and is famous for eels, so no foundations could be sunk into the river.