According to schedule, Julie Harrison, Permanent Secretary for the Department for Infrastructure of NI, attended the opening event of this strategic route between Dungiven and Drumahoe, that is also part of the Northwestern transport corridor connecting the Belfast metropolitan area and the Northwest of the country to Londonderry.
The project, developed by the Sacyr Engineering and Infrastructure-Wills Bros-Sacyr Somague joint venture, called for the construction of 25.5 km of road between both towns, including four separate junctions, 17 km of side roads, 20 km of access tracks, 9.5 km of pedestrian walkways and 22 structures (6 viaducts, 10 overpasses, 5 underpasses and one wooden sidewalk).
These improvements guarantee the comfort, traffic, and safety of the more than 15,000 users that travel the road each day, and reduce journey times by more than 10 minutes.
Over 600 professionals have collaborated to the make this project a success since the beginning of the contract.
Positive impact
The project has brought on multiple sustainable initiatives throughout construction. For example, 18 new underpasses for wildlife were built at multiple points of the road to ensure their safety. We have also planted over 750,000 trees in the surrounding areas of the project site.