M3 motorway (Northern Ireland)

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M3 motorway in the UK
M3 motorway (Northern Ireland)
Basic data
Operator: Roads Service Northern Ireland
Start of the street: Belfast
End of street: Belfast
Overall length: 1.3 km (0.8  mi )

Countries :

Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland Northern Ireland

The M3 motorway ( English for 'Motorway M3') is a motorway in Northern Ireland , which starts in the center of Belfast and according to original plans should run eastwards along the Bay of Belfast to Bangor . To date, however, mainly only the bridge over the Lagan River has been built . The M3 is currently both the youngest and shortest motorway in Northern Ireland. From a traffic perspective, in the current state of development, it is nothing more than a short, eastern extension of the M2 with a feeder function.

history

The major expansion plans of the Northern Irish motorway network from 1964 envisaged the construction of a motorway from the planned and never realized Belfast motorway ring along the Bay of Belfast to Bangor. However, before almost all motorway projects were suspended indefinitely due to the Northern Ireland conflict in the mid-1970s, not a single meter of this motorway had been completed.

Due to the never realized motorway, the traffic on the parallel A2 highway grew steadily. Above all, the Queen's Bridge , which crossed the Lagan River and connected the Belfast city center with the port area, was no longer able to cope with the traffic in the long run. In 1987 a new bridge was therefore planned over the Lagan. The construction work began in 1991 and was opened to traffic in two phases by 1998 due to the complex laying of a crossing railway line.

Although the M2 and the short new section merge almost seamlessly, a maximum speed of 50 mph (80 km / h) applies over the entire length and the motorway does not run on the route planned in 1964, the new section was nevertheless designated as Motorway M3. Despite its brevity, the M3 is one of the busiest sections of the motorway in Northern Ireland.

Expansion plans

While a full extension of the M3 to Bangor is considered unlikely, there are at least plans to extend the subsequent A2 around Sydenham and to design some intersections without any plans . In the long term it would therefore be possible that this section could also be upgraded to a motorway.

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