M2/A26 Ballee Road East dualling scheme opens

Roads Minister Conor Murphy today welcomed the opening of the £12million M2 / A26 Ballee Road East dualling scheme near Ballymena, Co Antrim.

Minister Murphy said: "This project will deliver significantly improved journey times and safety for all traffic travelling north and south along this route . Many people will now be looking forward to travelling on it and experiencing the important benefits that it will provide.

“This stretch of road is an essential element of the development in the area providing a direct connection between the M2 and the A26 dual carriageway, taking traffic off the Larne Road Roundabout and thus giving the traffic a continuous straight through route. The M2 Ballymena Bypass currently carries over 23,000 vehicles per day and the A26 Ballee Road East over 22,000 vehicles per day.

Speaking at the opening of the event, Roads Service Chief Executive Geoff Allister, said: "The completion of this project will remove delays for all the strategic traffic using this section of the road network between Antrim, Coleraine and the north coast, and will be a significant improvement to local traffic accessing Ballymena from the east."

The scheme was officially opened by the Mayor of Ballymena Borough Council Maurice Mills.

The £12million M2 improvements scheme incorporates 700m of new motorway and 1,400m of dual carriageway. The 1,400m of dual carriageway consists of 900m of new construction and 500m of widening of the existing carriageway. Two new slip roads will connect the new road to the south side of the Larne Road Roundabout. The existing Liminary Road was severed and an 800m length was realigned to connect into the roundabout.

In addition strengthening works were carried out to the existing Larne Road north and south bridges involving casting reinforced concrete collars around the central piers and the replacement of the parapets and wing walls.

During the works a Neolithic ringed enclosure was discovered and a team of over twenty archaeologists worked for almost two months to carefully expose the site. This rare 45m diameter ringed fort is the fourth ever found in Ireland and the knowledge gleaned contributes to our overall understanding of early mans’ existence.

The contract was awarded to FP McCann Ltd and commenced on 1 June 2009 and took 15 months to complete.

Notes to editors:

1. The M2/A26 Ballee Road East scheme involved the connection of the M2 Ballymena Bypass directly to a realigned A26 Ballee Road East dual carriageway.
2. Media queries to: Emma Flynn Davies, Department for Regional Development, Press Office, Tel: 028 9054 0372. Out of office hours, please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699715440 and your call will be returned.