help driving to Belfast from north west via M2

facingthefuture

to the maternity at the royal - whats the best way to go? Any areas to avoid? Got to be there for 10am.What do you do about parking?Any advice much appreciated,

belfastgirl23

I would say from the bottom of the M2 take the westlink (follow signs for M1) which takes you right over to the big roundabout at the bottom of the M1 - I would guess the royal should be signposted there if not before.

Allow loads of time for parking, the royal is bad for this and you will have to pay. And allow loads of time for travel as well, the M2 tends to end up with big tailbacks on it at peak times.

Personally I'd come up good and early and figure I could always grab a cuppa if I had time to wait.,,,

arkonite_babe

Traffic starts to build at Sandy Knowes now from around 6.40am onwards. Big roundabout is now gone and is the Broadway underpass

marcais

I would say you'd be best leaving Derry at about 7:00am, although you can adjust that a little if you're not that far NW.

If you leave at that time, you'll hit Junction 4 on the M2 at about 8:30 which is pretty much the worst time you can hit it, but if you leave much later than 7 you run the risk of not getting parked up and into the maternity unit by 10:00.

As said above get on the Westlink and the RVH is signposted from there.

I've never had a problem finding parking in the Royal, but you have no option but to pay. If you don't know the area then it's not worth trying to find on-street parking nearby.

belfastgirl23

arkonite_babe wrote: »

Traffic starts to build at Sandy Knowes now from around 6.40am onwards. Big roundabout is now gone and is the Broadway underpass

of course! I don't do this route v often anymore

And personally I'd leave about 630 just to be sure but then I'm a worrier by nature

arkonite_babe

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

of course! I don't do this route v often anymore

I wish I didn't, but alas due to my job I spend 3 days a week in Belfast *sigh*

typhoon

arkonite_babe wrote: »

Traffic starts to build at Sandy Knowes now from around 6.40am onwards. Big roundabout is now gone and is the Broadway underpass

6.40am!!!!!:eek: I am going back to work in a couple of weeks and will be on this roundabout for about 7.30...andI thought this was early enough to miss all the traffic! Unbelieveable. Just wish they would hurry up and finish whatever it is they are doing! And bring the bus lane back :mad:

typhoon

sorry forgot to add, be prepared for a long wait in the maternity unit, in a very crowded waiting room! I used to find the car park not too bad at that time of day, but an option is to park in the Park Centre Shopping Centre car park which is right beside the hospital.

belfastgirl23

typhoon wrote: »

6.40am!!!!!:eek: I am going back to work in a couple of weeks and will be on this roundabout for about 7.30...andI thought this was early enough to miss all the traffic! Unbelieveable. Just wish they would hurry up and finish whatever it is they are doing! And bring the bus lane back :mad:

I thought that too till I was coming back from dropping someone at the airport at about 7.10 and ended up sitting totally stationary at Sandyknowles. It is really a mess...

arkonite_babe

typhoon wrote: »

6.40am!!!!!:eek: I am going back to work in a couple of weeks and will be on this roundabout for about 7.30...andI thought this was early enough to miss all the traffic! Unbelieveable. Just wish they would hurry up and finish whatever it is they are doing! And bring the bus lane back :mad:

If coming from Antrim direction, be prepared to sit and wait by 07.30am!!

thetope

8:30 or 8:45 is actually a much better time for passing through sandyknowes than 7:30. 7:30 is mustard! However I don't know how bad the westlink is around 9 - i stopped going that way to work about a year ago

You could follow the "westlink roadworks alternative route" signposts at templepatrick which take you to the airport roundabout, through nutts corner and down into west belfast and the stockman's lane roundabout. From stockman's lane rbt you have a short hop down the M1 to broadway and the royal. I travel this route every morning (ok, not quite, i come off the m2 at Junction 1) - from nutts corner it will take you a max of half an hour into the royal.