Wesley Johnston 🇺🇦
@niroads
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Researcher & commentator on Northern Ireland roads and motorways. Christian. Publisher (Colourpoint & Blackstaff Press). Slava Ukraïni. #RussiaIsATerroristState
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Joined July 2009
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@budgiesmuggle45
@UAWeapons
I presume he's talking about the breaking news that Russia has announced withdrawal from Kherson.
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@den_kazansky
Compulsory listening for anyone who thinks Russia invaded to protect the language rights of people in eastern Ukraine.
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I was asked for this, so here is a breakdown of location of all fatalities on the A5 road from 2012 to now.
4 Derry to Strabane
0 Strabane Bypass
7 Strabane to Omagh
2 Omagh Throughpass
13 Omagh to Ballygawley
3 Ballygawley to Aughnacloy
@DynamicNI
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In late 1600s and most of 1700s, most land travel in Ireland was foot/pack horse. So straight roads made sense. But from the late 1700s as large carts came into use many were rebuilt on gentler gradients. Often the old road fell out of use. Ballygowan Rd Belfast is a perfect eg.
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A5 Outer Ring Belfast at Cregagh Road impassable. All vehicles being taken through the turn-right lanes to pass the flood.
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A very rare sight in NI - car parked fully on footway on double yellows getting a ticket.
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Five over-engineered roads in Northern Ireland. Blog:
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Supermarket delivery guy came this evening. Said - are you the Wesley Johnston who wrote the Urban Motorway book? I’m reading it right now! And we briefly shared appreciation for our common niche interest!
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@SoVeryBritish
When someone cuts you up, and you flail about and finally flash your windscreen wipers at them. LET THAT BE A LESSON TO YOU.
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@anneapplebaum
@JuliaDavisNews
In 1945 we said “never again”. And it’s happening again, because our governments here in the West didn’t respond with any force to Russian aggression in Crimea in 2014. But we can respond now. F16s. And what allows 🇺🇦 to actually win back their land and people.
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A few observations on the Portadown-Omagh-Derry-Letterkenny heavy rail proposal. Firstly, we should think of this as a new railway line, not a re-opening. The old line was built in the mid 19th century and construction standards have completely changed in the interim. 1/7
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@SoVeryBritish
If your wife doesn’t give you a male heir, what’s the best way to handle it?
#AskingForAFriend
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Recent media reports have talked abut how parts of Downpatrick are like islands. This is not just figurative. Two hundred years ago the hill on which Down Cathedral (and the nearby Mound of Down) sits WAS almost an island with marshland around it on three sides. 1834 OS map. 1/6
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Textbook example of what transport planners call a “desire line” - a feature which highlights a disconnect between between provided infrastructure and desired infrastructure. (Connswater Greenway)
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Drove the road from Hilltown to Rostrevor yesterday. Built between 1767 and 1777 it crossed extremely challenging terrain for the technology of the day. Could I resist stopping to take photos? Of course I couldn't.
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DFI have enacted a legal order that from 3 Nov bans parking a vehicle on a footway "adjacent to a bus lane, bus stop, bus stand, mandatory cycle lane or mandatory school keep clear" marking. Previously, the ban only applied to clearways, controlled crossings, and cycle tracks 1/3
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@jaanikamerilo
@wartranslated
Ukraine: Help us! We’re being targeted with cruise missiles!
West: Sorry, no can do because EsCaLaTiOn
Israel: Help us! We’re being targeted with cruise missiles!
West: We’re on our way! 🐎
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Final then-and-now. SSE Arena, Belfast now, and a picture I took when it was under construction in February 2000. Note that Queen's Road had a slightly different alignment at this location back then.
@SSEBelfastArena
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This lucky homeowner has their own direction sign in their garden. I’ve often thought of this but Mrs NIRoads always says no. 😭 ☹️
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Fantastic news! It will need to close again for a final time during the summer for some final works, but with that caveat the 60+ year wait is over! Last town on the Belfast-Derry route to be bypassed.
The A6 Dungiven Bypass section of the new A6 is now open to Traffic. The opening was done in the early hours this morning. (Saturday) Some photos of the Dungiven Bypass section.
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I was in my 20s in 1998. David Trimble was a courageous man without whom the Agreement would not have happened. About ten years ago I had the privilege of thanking him personally. He brushed it off with characteristic modestly, but I meant it, not just for me but my children too.
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Great Victoria Street railway station and Boyne Bridge, Belfast, both of which will be demolished over the next couple of months. New Grand Central Station taking shape beyond.
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Another then-and-now. Looking west along Sydenham Road, Belfast from near Fraser Street now, and a similar view I took in 2000.
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So Irish government commitment to the A5 is going to be €600m (£514m), not £400m as we thought yesterday. That will help further. It might even permit a third section to get underway along with phases 1A and 1B. 1/3
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Another death on the A5. In the past year *1 out of every 6* road fatalities in Northern Ireland has occurred on this road. On average someone has been dying on the A5 every 5 weeks. We need to do more to improve safety on this dangerous road.
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DFI seem to be proposing to ban all vehicles – except buses, bicycles and blue-badge holders – from the length of York Street, Belfast outside Ulster University, as well as removing most on-street parking. Six months initially. That's quite a change.
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@SoVeryBritish
One time I was walking towards such a couple with no space to pass. I gambled that they'd let go and I'd walk like a ninja between them. Well, they didn't and I ended up caught like a spider in a net. And then we had an awkward exchange.
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State of the heavily-used public footpath from A20 Messines Road to Jubilee Road
#Newtownards
after an NIE subcontractor has been on site. POV.
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Lagan Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge (Gasworks Bridge) tender has just been released!
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Yes, it fails to connect to Glider, but aside from that, this is still a pretty impressive facility and will be a huge step forward for transport in the city.
New aerial images showing the ongoing construction of Grand Central Station in Belfast. When completed in 2025, it will be Ireland's largest integrated transport facility, with 26 bus stands, 8 railway platforms and the capacity to cater for 20 million annual passenger journeys.
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Five over-engineered roads in Northern Ireland. Blog:
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Ballintoy Harbour and its delightful approach road.
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@stephnrolo
@Beathhigh
Me too in terms of competitiveness. I ended up making my account Private, which removes you from the league tables entirely.
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Severe structural damage evident to these supporting columns in the Berlin Radisson Blu aquarium incident. That’s a very compromised structure.
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@Gerashchenko_en
@ZelenskaUA
@ZelenskyyUa
I hope, when this is all over,
@ZelenskyyUa
can take lots of time with his family. And maybe go on that fishing trip. He and
@ZelenskaUA
deserve it. 🇺🇦 🇬🇧
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@Val_Voshchevska
Don't be discouraged. We in the UK stand with you, and will continue to. You are fighting for your own freedom but also that of Europe. We remember you this Christmas and will remember you in practical ways in the coming year. Слава Україні! 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 🇮🇪
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DFI have finally published the review into York Street Interchange hat was finished 18 months ago. Link - see PAR near bottom. A very interesting set of porposals. It recommends consideration of three 'levels' of design alterations. 1/5
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Congratulations to BAM on being awarded the contract to build Narrow Water Bridge near
#Warrenpoint
! Work to start in about two weeks.
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In many, many cases wealthy landowners diverted public roads to bypass their estates. Numerous examples across NI. One is Clandeboye, Bangor where the red road was completely removed in 19C and diverted onto the blue route where it remains to this day.
In many cases the house names have outlived the houses in the locality.
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Forty Years of Belfast's A12 Westlink. Blog:
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@SimonWhiteley6
@QuestyYon
@APHClarkson
I don’t think they did blow up the rail bridge. The detonation seems to have been under the road bridge but timed so that the blast and shrapnel would set fire to a passing fuel train.
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Yeooooo
The A6 Dungiven to Drumahoe scheme will be completed ahead of the Easter holiday period. The remaining cones and temporary traffic management will be removed and the road will be fully open on the afternoon of Thursday 6 April.
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The A6 at the Ponderosa, Glenshane Pass.
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My nightmares are mostly just variants of this theme.
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Oh all right then, one more then-and-now! Titanic Studios now, and as it looked back in 2003. I remember in 2003 it felt like you were on an airport apron walking about in this part of Titanic Quarter.
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Ukrainians would have the A6 open by Tuesday.
Some work going on around bridge on the road Kherson - Mykolaiv destroyed by Russians.
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Widely expected to propose a new railway corridor in the west of NI plus better rail access to all three NI airports.
The Irish Times reports that the All Island Strategic Rail Review report will be published in draft form this month. It is expected to be brought to Cabinet before the end of the July and is expected to recommend new train links to all three airports in Northern Ireland.
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It’s got cracked over the years, but I have great respect for the effort some person put into laying the slabs over this manhole cover.
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Cough cough A5 cough cough
Ireland grapples with large budget surpluses. Are you thinking what I’m thinking ?
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New bridge over Lagan at Sailortown, Belfast proposed by council. Seems to have a plausible funding strategy too.
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I'm not on top of specifics of this exact location, but if this is meant to be a dedicated cycle lane then it's shocking that such blatant, daily blocking by cars and bins is allowed to continue day after day. Even a single visit by a redcoat should send a strong message.
This morning I decided to remove the pallets that were blocking the cycle route at Hardcastle Street.
@belfastcc
&
@deptinfra
this is just ridiculous.
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Amazon just recommended this book. Looks just up my street! 😆
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Great news – RoI commitment for A5 up from £75m to £400m. But with the total cost now £1.6bn hard choices lie ahead. It's implausible that NI will be able to stump up the remaining £1.2bn in the current economic climate and esp pressures on Health and Edu.
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Masons’ marks still evident on these solid stone kerbstones in east Belfast. Date from the 1930s.
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@AvonandsomerRob
@SoVeryBritish
I go to bed now earlier than I went OUT when I was a student.
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The
@Waterstones
store in Bangor NI is *still* selling GB Highway Codes, which differs from the NI Highway Code in important details. The GB one does not apply in NI, so don’t buy it!
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Phase 1 of the A5 dualling scheme creeps closer as Minister indicates he will be approving it when he publishes his formal response in late August.
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As there seems to be some doubt about this, the speed limit on the new A6 dual-carriageway Derry-Dungiven is National Speed Limit, which for a car with no tailer means 70mph.
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Measurable outcome of the new A6 - pollution levels halved in Dungiven main street.
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So what do we think of a footway that simply morphs into a roadway with no clues for the partially sighted? 🤔 Something not right.
@ImtacNI
@ShowMeASignBryn
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1/4 🧵 Summary of my best estimates for A5 project costs taking construction inflation into account.
TOTAL £1,700m
Phase 1A (Newbuildings to N of Strabane) £300m
Phase 1B (S of Omagh to Ballygawley) £380m
Phase 2 (Omagh-Strabane + bypasses of each) £700m
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Ignoring the fact that they're causing an obstruction, all of these vehicles are parked illegally on double yellow lines which apply to the footway as well as the road. Amazing that they're not ticketed.
@deptinfra
The Holylands is rife with illegal parking, including pavement parking
I had to walk my kids on the road today because one whole street had cars parked on pavement.
Things will not change without consistent enforcement
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Shout out to the prolific Paul who keeps us all up-to-date with the A6 scheme.
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Featuring a "Control Zone" sign – you could park your car in a Control Zone, but somebody had to be in it at all times. So a whole generation of kids grew up hearing their da say "Here, I have to do a message in town – come and sit in the car for me".
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55 years ago today the M1 j11-12 (Portadown to The Birches) opened to traffic. It has the longest perfectly straight section of the M1. Contrary to myth, this wasn’t to make it usable as a runway, but simply because the landscape is so flat that no curves were required.
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🎂 Happy 50th birthday to the M2 foreshore
#Belfast
, which opened from a temporary terminus at Duncrue Street (j1A) to Greencastle (j2) on this day in 1973. The 3km stretch took 7 years to build by infilling the foreshore of Belfast lough with rock by rail from Magheramorne. 1/3
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Driving up the A1 a few nights ago, just north of Newry, a car suddenly zoomed past in the overtaking lane, perhaps going 90+. Then about two miles up the road who did we pass stopped on the hard shoulder with a police car behind them but the same guy…. 🚔
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Another thing we learned today - around 20% of people using the M1 to travel into Belfast in the morning peak are now on buses.
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Consultation open on a new cycle lane on Montgomery Road in Belfast. Quite high spec for Belfast - fully segregated along most of it. Will be taken from what is currently an area of grass between the roadway and the footway.
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Looks like more progress on the Lagan footbridge (Ormeau Park
#Belfast
).
@deptinfra
are consulting on the next step, which is to purchase the land necessary to build the bridge.
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We often see bad reinstatements on here. But here’s one where the contractor has actually used two different colours of stone to match the original tarmac. 👌
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So I am now marooned at Cultra because the EcarNI charging point I was aiming for is behind a gate that has been padlocked shut by the Ulster Transport Museum. 😆
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@SoVeryBritish
“It’s clearly a complex issue and I’ve heard a range of opinions. I think the conversation is on the right track and I’m content with the consensus.”
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People still call the Outer Ring/Saintfield Road junction "the Supermac junction" to this day.
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People have been saying for years that the store should never have been built in the first place, as it is sited on unstable land in a high flood risk zone.
Politicians have expressed concern about jobs at an Asda supermarket in County Down after last week's flooding caused structural damage to the store.
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View east along the bank of the Lagan from Ormeau Bridge. If the Belfast Urban Motorway had been completed as was planned in 1967 this bank would have carried the M4 Carryduff motorway on stilts on its way to join the Urban Motorway near the Gasworks.
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Interesting insight into the sub-structure of a Russian motorway here.
A part of the road has been excavated in the Lipetsk region to stop the Wagner advance.
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Some of the visualisations in the document are well beyond what I've seen before in NI and going to have the cycling lobby salivating! (Just note this is a placemaking report by consultants, not design proposals by DFI.)
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So much to comment on in this photo. Roundabout where there are now lights. Outer Ring has the number A504 back then, rather than A55 as it is now. And that pre-Worboys road sign...😍
Looking down Castlereagh Road from the Ballygowan Road...1950’s? Clonduff on the left.
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Amazing footage.
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One of the things the upcoming DFI Minister will need to do is consider the inspector's report into the A5 public inquiry, and make a formal decision to proceed with phase 1. If the decision is made to proceed, work could get underway before the end of 2024.
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A few years back I was queueing to pay in a petrol station. Man in front of me was clad all in lycra, wearing a cycling helmet and buying an energy drink. Cashier: "Any petrol?"
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This is the M1 in England today. I’ve never seen rainwater come off an overbridge on that scale before. Flippin’ heck. 😳
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@oleksiireznikov
@DefenceU
@RishiSunak
@BWallaceMP
We will stand with you for as long as it takes. 🇬🇧 🇺🇦
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I am not making any comment on the merit of building these lines just pointing out that by current measures they're not remotely affordable for Northern Ireland. That's probably the biggest obstacle our politicians will face when looking at the recommendations in this report. 7/7
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