Westlink Belfast
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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, 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 dual carriageway 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 i ...
s which run south, north and east of the city, respectively. The road forms part of
European route E01 European route E1 is a series of roads in Europe, part of the United Nations International E-road network, running from Larne, Northern Ireland to Seville, Spain. There is a sea crossing between Rosslare Harbour, in Ireland, and Ferrol, but ...
.


History

Originally planned in 1964 as the Belfast Urban Motorway,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 2009Northern 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 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
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
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