M2 motorway (Northern Ireland)

M2 motorway in the UK
Basic data
Operator:	Roads Service Northern Ireland
Start of the street:	Belfast
End of street:	Ballymena
Overall length:	36.1 km (22.4  mi )
Countries :	Northern Ireland

The M2 motorway ( English for 'Autobahn M2') is a motorway in Northern Ireland that starts in the center of Belfast and, according to original plans, should run in a north-westerly direction to the Irish north coast to Coleraine . To date, however, only two sections of the planned route have been completed. The motorway has ten lanes between junction 1A and 2 in the Belfast city center and four lanes in the further course.

history

According to the first plans from 1956, the M2 should initially run almost in a straight line from north Belfast in a north-westerly direction to Ballymena . Construction on the highway began in 1963 south of Newtownabbey . When the construction work had already started, it was decided at short notice not to continue the route in a straight line to Ballymena, but to take a detour via Antrim , as the terrain of the original route would have been very steep and the construction would have been very cost-intensive. The first 5.6 km long section between junctions 2 and 4 southwest of Newtownabbey was opened to traffic in October 1966. An already completed section of the original route west of Newtownabbey has been designated as a motorway-like A8 (M) .

As early as 1964, plans came up that provided for a further expansion of the M2. So the M2 should be extended beyond Ballymena to Coleraine. At Antrim, the new M22 was to continue the western course of the M2 to Magherafelt . And finally the M23 was to branch off north of Ballymena, which would lead to Derry . Instead of continuing to build the already completed section southwest of Newtownabbey, however, it was initially decided to build sections in the larger localities in order to relieve the city traffic. In 1966 construction began on a 7.2 km long section east of Ballymena, which was opened in April 1969.

In 1968, work began on the M2 northeast of Antrim. To complete the Antrim bypass, the first section of the M22 was built. At the transition from M2 to M22, precautions were taken to be able to connect the M2 coming from Ballymena here later. The 17.1 km long section north of Antrim (6.7 km of which is signposted as M22) was gradually opened from east to west by January 1973. Just four months later, a 4.0 km long extension of the M2 was completed in the Belfast city center. The last to be opened in September 1975 was the 9.4 km long gap between the sections of Newtownabbey and Antrim, creating a continuous route from Belfast to Antrim.

The next phase of construction was to close the gap between Antrim and Ballymena. Due to the conflict in Northern Ireland in the mid-1970s, however, almost all motorway projects were suspended indefinitely by the British.

Expansion plans

In the Newtownabbey area, the M2 is currently being expanded from four to six lanes between junctions 2 and 4 in order to cope with the growing traffic load in the greater Belfast area. Completion is expected in 2009. In addition, in the course of the expansion of the A12 (also known as Westlink), a direct connection point to the M2 is to be created in the area of ​​downtown Belfast.

In order to close the urgently needed gap between Antrim and Ballymena, the already existing A26 has now been expanded into a four-lane expressway as a cost-effective solution. It is therefore unlikely, even in the long term, that the M2 will close the gap parallel to the A26 at some point. However, the connections between the A26 and the two sections of the M2 are expected to be optimized by 2010. In addition, the A26 north of Ballymena is to be expanded into an expressway for around seven kilometers in the long term. It is therefore unlikely that the M2 will ever be built on the planned route.

Web links

• Northern Island Roads Site : M2 (Southern Section) , M2 (Northern Section)