M5 shield
M5
Route information
Length1.4 mi (2.3 km)
Existed1980–present
Major junctions
South endWhitewell – M2
Major intersections
M2 motorway
North endHazelbank – A2
Location
CountryUnited Kingdom
Constituent countryNorthern Ireland
Primary
destinations		Newtownabbey
Road network

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.

History & future development

An incomplete road surface leading into trees
Building the M5 near Rushpark, Whiteabbey, 1980

Originally announced in 1964, the M5 was planned to follow the route of the B90 to Carrickfergus.[1] Under the plans it would also have been the southern terminus of the unbuilt M6 Motorway to Larne.[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 later opened in 1995, and had the same number as the original planned motorway in east Belfast, but was a completely different project.[5]

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. In 2008 the Northern Ireland Executive approved a plan to dual the road from the University of Ulster campus at Jordanstown as far as Carrickfergus, involving the compulsory purchase of twelve houses, a commercial unit and parts of 68 gardens. The dualling was completed in 2013, and left only a two-mile section from Whitehouse through Whiteabbey as single lane road.[6]

Junctions

M5 motorway
Northbound exits Junction Southbound exits
End of motorway
M2 motorway continues
Belfast City Centre M2		 M2, J2 Start of motorway
Start of motorway J1 End of motorway
Whiteabbey, Carrickfergus
Belfast (Shore Road) A2

See also

References

  1. ↑ "M5 Motorway - Northern Ireland". www.wesleyjohnston.com. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  2. ↑ "History - Northern Ireland Motorway Plans - Northern Ireland Roads Site". www.wesleyjohnston.com. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  3. ↑ The Motorway Archive – M5 (Northern Ireland) Archived 5 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ The Motorway Archive – M5 (Northern Ireland) Dates Page Archived 11 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ "M3 Dock Street to Bridge end and Sydenham By-pass (Web Archive)". The Motorway Archive (Web Archive). Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  6. ↑ "Plans to ease traffic bottleneck". 30 September 2008 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
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