M5 motorway (Northern Ireland)

This article is about the M5 in Northern Ireland. For other uses, see M5 motorway (disambiguation).

The M5 is a 1.4-mile-long (2.3 km) spur motorway 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.

M5
M5 highlighted in blue
Route information
Length	1.4 mi (2.3 km)
Existed	1980–present
Major junctions
South end	Whitewell – M2
Major intersections	M2 motorway
North end	Hazelbank – A2
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Constituent country	Northern Ireland
Primary destinations	Newtownabbey
Road network
Roads in Northern Ireland Motorways A roads in Northern Ireland

History & future development

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.^[6] 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.^[7]

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

• Roads in Ireland
• List of motorways in the United Kingdom