Ferrovial's construction subsidiary Ferrovial Agroman, in consortium with equal partners Lagan and Costain, has been awarded a contract to design and build the A8 Belfast to Larne toll road in Northern Ireland. The project, worth £102 million (equivalent to €127 million), involves building 14.5 kilometres of toll road plus a 3.5 km. bypass around the town of Ballynure.
The Spanish company noted in a press release that the road must be opened to traffic within 34 months. The new infrastructure will link Belfast, Northern Ireland's capital city, with the port of Larne, which handles a large proportion of goods traffic between Ireland and Great Britain.
This is Ferrovial Agroman's first contract under the Early Contractor Involvement model, which is divided into two phases. In the first phase, the winning bidder advises the client on aspects such as construction methods and options for optimising the design. The second phase includes the standard design and construction work.
According to Ferrovial, Agroman has built a total of 175 km of toll roads in the island of Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland, Ferrovial Agroman built the A3, A1/N1, M50 and M4/M6. It is currently building the N3 Butlersbridge to Belturbet road, in the centre of the island. Through Cintra, Ferrovial manages 90 km of toll roads: M4-M6 and M3.
In Northern Ireland, Ferrovial Agroman has completed the region's largest motorway project: DBFO2, which is operated and maintained by Amey, improves communication between Belfast and the east and south of the island.
