Talk:A1 road (Northern Ireland)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is within the scope of the UK Roads WikiProject, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of the UK's road network. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.
Start	This article has been rated as start-Class on the assessment scale.
Mid	This article has been rated as mid-importance on the importance scale.

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Northern Ireland, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to Northern Ireland on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start	This article has been rated as start-Class on the assessment scale. (If you rated the article please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article.)
Mid	This article is on a subject of Mid-importance for Northern Ireland-related articles.
Article Grading: The article has been rated for quality and/or importance but has no comments yet. If appropriate, please review the article and then leave comments here to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article and what work it will need.
WikiProject Northern Ireland tasks: Here are some open WikiProject Northern Ireland tasks: Places: Mussenden Temple and Downhill Demesne, Devenish Island Monastic Site, Killyclogher, Derryvore Landmarks: The Skerries (Northern Ireland), Black Pig's Dyke, Helen's Tower Parks and gardens: Events: Ulster Cup, Ulster hockey People: Alison Campbell, Paul Charles (novelist), Paula Clamp, Max Clendinning, Colin Cooper (academic), Newton Emerson, Lucy Evangelista, Robert Hall (doctor), Shauna Gunn, Sophie Hoopman, H Douglas Keith, Charles Michael Lavery QC, Henry Lavery, Francis Maginn, Jim Malley, Catherine Jean Milligan, Phillip McCallen, Robert MacDonnell, Joseph Tomelty, Gayle Williamson, Zane Radcliffe, Professor Richard Rose, Brian Baird (newsreader) Newspapers/Magazines: Fortnight Magazine 'Schools/Colleges: Glenola Collegiate School, Our Lady and St Patrick's College, Belfast Boy's Model School, St. Columbanus' College, Streets: Rivers: River Bush, River Mourne, River Moyola, River Roe Organisations: Industrial Development Board, Forest Service Northern Ireland, Rivers Agency Northern Ireland, Invest NI, Roads Service Northern Ireland, Child Support Agency (NI), Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland, District Policing Partnerships, Compensation Agency, Office of the Oversight Commissioner, Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Housing Executive, Central Services Agency, Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service, Census Office in Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Cameron Commission, Hunt Committee, Stanley Leisure, Ormo, Sunblest (currently re-directs) History: Rose Report, History of Armagh, History of Newry, History of Lisburn Buildings: Belvoir Park Hospital, Guildhall, Derry Major topics: Geography of Northern Ireland, Geology of Northern Ireland, Integrated Education Edit or discuss this list.

	Ireland Portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Ireland, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to Ireland on Wikipedia. For more information, or to get involved, visit the project page.
Start	This article has been rated as Start-Class on the Project's quality scale. (If you rated the article please give a short summary at comments to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses.)
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the priority scale.

Is it true that the M1 motorway was supposed to continue south to Dublin rather than west to Dungannon, and that the decision to complete the motorway as it is now was political? Certainly it is rather hard to believe that there isn't some reason why one has to use such a sub-standard road from the Sprucefield roundabout to Newry.

It's rather interesting too that the new cross-border road will only be motorway south of the border (M1) becoming merely "dual-carriageway" in the North.

Oh well, at least the vast majority of the Dublin-Belfast route will be motorway soon.

Anyways - if there's any actual background info on why the M1 (NI) follows the route it does rather than down to Newry - it should be added to the article.

zoney ♣ talk 16:31, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] No, it's not really true

I have researched NI's motorways in depth, and have found no evidence that the M1 was ever destined to go south towards Dublin. Originally the plan was for a high quality road from Belfast to Lisburn, but this got extended to Portadown when it was decided to build a new city (Craigavon) there. The extension to Dungannon was merely a coincidence of timing - the road from Portadown to Dungannon was one of the poorest in NI with a 20mph speed limit. It was due to be upgraded to dual-carriageway in the 1960s and they took the opportunity to build it to motorway standard. It's important to remember that at the time it was conceived, the M1 was meant to relieve congestion for commuters travelling into the city, not connect it to other cities.

Having said that, there in fact WAS a plan to build a motorway from Lisburn to Newry, but it was not the M1. It was the M11 and you can actually see it on some of the original blueprints of Craigavon New City. It would have run a mile or two west of the modern A1. It was dropped along with other sections of motorway such as the M4 Ormeau Road to Carryduff, M5 to Carrickfergus, M6 to Larne and M8 in south Belfast in the 1969 review of transport. This may well have been political, but there's no proof of that. After all, there was the intention of building a motorway from Belfast to Derry since 1964 - until the entire motorway programme was shut down in 1972.

You can read more here: http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads/historymotorwayplans.html

Wesley Johnston

[edit] Cleanup

This article, IMHO, needs a serious cleanup. It is not factual and contains a lot of opinions. What are other's thoughts? Regan123 01:49, 8 October 2006 (UTC)