M5 motorway (Northern Ireland)

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M5 Motorway

Road of the United Kingdom
Length 1.4 miles (2.3 km)
Direction North - South
Start Whitewell - M2
Primary destinations Newtownabbey
End Hazelbank - A2
Construction dates 1980 - complete route
Motorways joined
M2 Motorway
This page refers to the M5 in Northern Ireland. For other uses see M5

The M5 is a spur motorway of 1.4 miles (2.3 km) length in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. It connects the M2 to the A2 Shore Road at Hazelbank in Newtownabbey. It is a dual two lane road with most of the road on a causeway in Belfast Lough in order to bypass Whitehouse beach.

Contents

[edit] History

Originally announced in 1964 and planned to follow the route of the B90 to Carrickfergus,[1] the M5 would have also joined the planned M6 motorway.[2] The scale of the scheme was reduced to its present form in the 1969 transport review,[3] but it was recommended that the line of the originally planned route should be protected from development. Opening to traffic on 12 September 1980,[4] the M5 was the only one of Northern Ireland's original motorway schemes to proceed after the cancellation of all the existing motorway plans in 1975 following the deterioration of civil order (the M3 which opened in 1995 had the same number as an original plan, but was a different project).

Culverts were added to ensure that what became Whitehouse Lagoon remained tidal, however these have not worked and the beach has become mud and sludge since the motorway opened. There route through Whiteabbey and Jordanstown has now been bulit over by housing, negating the prospect of the M5 being completed.

[edit] Junctions

M5 Motorway
Northbound exits Junction Southbound exits
Carrickfergus, Whiteabbey A2
 J1
Hazelbank Roundabout
Terminus		 Start of Motorway
Start of Motorway M2 J2 Belfast, Docks M2

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Northern Ireland Roads Site - M5
  2. ^ Northern Ireland Roads Site - History of Motorway Plans
  3. ^ The Motorway Archive - M5 (Northern Ireland)
  4. ^ The Motorway Archive - M5 (Northern Ireland) Dates Page

[edit] External links

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