The Westlink road in
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 ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
is a
dual carriageway
A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...
throughpass, designated the A12, connecting the
M1 to the
M2 and
M3 motorway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
s which run south, north and east of the city, respectively. The road forms part of
European route E01.
History
Originally planned in 1964 as the
Belfast Urban Motorway
The Belfast Urban Motorway was a proposed motorway system in Belfast, Northern Ireland announced in 1964, but was never completed, only the Western portion was built as the A12, Westlink. It was to be built in three phases: Phase 1, from the M ...
,
[Northern Ireland Roads Site - Belfast Urban Motorway]
URL accessed 17 July 2006 the route was to have been fully grade-separated and would have completely encircled the city centre. Due to lack of money and public opposition only the western portion was completed and this was originally not fully grade-separated.
The entire road was built to dual two-lane standard. The southbound section from Grosvenor Road to Broadway was widened to three lanes in 2002. Major upgrade work completed in 2009 extended the third lane to the newly completed Broadway underpass, where the road now seamlessly merges into the M1 Motorway.
The underpass opened on Friday 4 July 2008. On Saturday 16 August 2008 it completely filled with water due to several hours of torrential rainfall.
This earned it the nickname 'The Wetlink'.
The Westlink was built in two phases. Phase 1, connecting the M1 at Broadway to Grosvenor Road opened in February 1981.
URL accessed 17 July 2006 Both of these junctions were built as at-grade roundabouts, with a traffic-light junction serving Roden Street and Mulhouse Road halfway between. Phase 2, extending the scheme from Grosvenor Road to York Street, was completed in March 1983. This section has two grade-separated junctions at
Divis Street and Clifton Street and passes under
Peter's Hill. The York Street terminus is at-grade and links to the M2 and, since its opening in January 1995, to the M3.
Criticism / Future plans
The Westlink has garnered much negative publicity over the years, owing to rush-hour traffic bottlenecks at its major intersections. The major renovation work from 2006 to 2009
[Northern Ireland Roads Site - Westlink Upgrade]
URL accessed 17 July 2006 has seen the full grade-separation of the Broadway and Grosvenor Road junctions via
underpass
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...
es and a third traffic lane is being added in both directions between Broadway and Divis Street.
Left-in/left-out
Right-in/right-out (RIRO) and left-in/left-out (LILO) refer to a type of three-way road intersection where turning movements of vehicles are restricted. A RIRO permits only right turns and a LILO permits only left turns. "Right-in" and "left-in" r ...
sliproads provided at Mulhouse Road (for access to the
Royal Victoria Hospital), the closure of access to Roden Street and the provision of a segregated busway from Broadway into the
Europa Buscentre
Great Victoria Street is a railway station serving the city centre of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is one of two major stations in the city, along with , and is one of the four stations located in the city centre, the others being Lanyon Place, ...
were also completed.
Detractors of this scheme point out that it will merely cause additional bottlenecks at the entry/exit point at York Street. However, plans to upgrade this junction to a fully
free-flowing interchange have progressed (as of 16 March 2016) to the point where the scheme has been
tendered
Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agency buys goods or se ...
.
[£130m York Street, Belfast, traffic scheme out to tender](_blank)
Accessed 17 March 2016 Provided funding is made available, construction is expected to run from November 2017 to December 2020.
[Assembly Questions - York Street Interchange: Update](_blank)
Accessed 2 February 2016
References
{{coord, 54.59203, N, 5.94562, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Roads in Northern Ireland
Roads in Belfast
Ring roads in the United Kingdom