The A8 in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

is a 26.1 km (16.2 miles) route connecting the city of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

with the harbour town of

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid ...

. One of the busiest routes in the region, the road forms part of the unsigned

European routes The international E-road network is a numbering system for roads in Europe developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The network is numbered from E1 up and its roads cross national borders. It also reaches Centr ...

E01 and E18.

Route

For many years predominantly single carriageway, a major upgrade of the road to dual-carriageway was completed in 2015 which

grade separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tra ...

all major junctions between Coleman's Corner roundabout and Larne. Beginning at junction 4 of the

M2 motorway This is a list of roads designated M2: Europe * M2 motorway (Great Britain), a motorway in England * M2 expressway (Hungary), a motorway in Hungary * N2 road (Ireland)#M2 motorway, a motorway in the Republic of Ireland * M-2 highway (Monteneg ...

the road is under motorway restrictions as the A8(M) for around 1.6 km until it meets a roundabout at Corr's Corner. From this point the road is dual carriageway of varying standard for the entirety of its length, meeting roundabouts at Coleman's Corner and just before Larne. The Harbour Highway, bypassing Larne, is dual carriageway, and includes a grade-separated junction with the A2 and provides a direct link to the Port of Larne.

2015 Upgrade

Beginning in 2012, a major upgrade project costing £133m was undertaken to upgrade the remaining single carriageway section between Coleman's Corner and Larne to

High-quality dual carriageway A High-quality dual carriageway (HQDC) is a road category in Ireland. It is defined as an all-purpose dual carriageway road type built to near motorway standards, but without motorway classification or motorway restrictions. High-quality dual car ...

and replace all major junctions with

overbridges or LILO junctions to improve safety on a previously very dangerous road. In addition, the village of

Ballynure Ballynure () is a village and civil parish near Ballyclare in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council and had a population of 677 people in the 2001 Census. Transport * Ballynure was formerly serv ...

, for many years a major bottleneck on the route, was bypassed as part of the part the scheme.

References

{{coord, 54.78322, N, 5.94386, W, type:landmark_region:GB_dim:4000, display=title 8-008 Roads in County Antrim