M5 motorway (Northern Ireland)
The M5 is a spur motorway of 1½ miles in north Belfast, County Antrim. 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
Originally announced in 1964 and planned to follow the route of the B90 to Carrickfergus,[1] the M5 would have also joined the planned M6 motorway.[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 which opened in 1995 had the same number as an original plan, but was a different project).
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 |
References
Outside links
- CBRD Motorway Database – M5 (Northern Ireland)
- Northern Ireland Roads Site – M5
- The Motorway Archive – M5 (Northern Ireland)
| Motorways in the United Kingdom |
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Great Britain: M1 • M2 • M3 • M4 • M5 • M6 • M6 Toll • M8 • M9 • M10 • M11 • M18 • M20 • M23 • M25 • M26 • M27 • M32 • M40 • M42 • M45 • M48 • M49 • M50 • M53 • M54 • M55 • M56 • M57 • M58 • M60 • M61 • M62 • M63 • M65 • M66 • M67 • M69 • M73 • M74 • M77 • M80 • M85 • M90 • M180 • M181 • M271 • M275 • M602 • M606 • M621 • M876 • M898 • Sections of A road: A1(M) |
Former motorways marked in italics
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