1.7.04
Belfast Telegraph
Traffic grinds to a halt in series of bomb scares
By Ben Lowry
01 July 2004
TRAFFIC was paralysed across Belfast today when the city's busiest arterial route and a number of other key roads were closed at the morning peak period, due to security alerts.
One of the first alerts, at Hilden railway halt between Dunmurry and Lisburn, was declared a hoax by mid morning.
Police had received a phone call at around 8.20am, claiming that a suspect device had been left at the station.
Two further security alerts resulted in the closure of the Westlink between Grosvenor Road and Broadway shortly after 8am.
Further alerts at the M3 onslip at Middlepath Street, near Bridge End, and at Wellington Park, at the junction of Lisburn Road, were declared hoaxes by late morning.
Another alert was continuing in the Stranmillis Road area, with diversions in place along Chlorine Gardens and towards Malone Road.
Outside Belfast, there was an alert on the M1 at Moira Bridge.
The Westlink, which is Northern Ireland's most heavily-used road, is due to be upgraded by 2010.
Work on the Westlink scheme, which will widen much of the route to three lanes in each direction, is not due to begin until 2007.
Traffic grinds to a halt in series of bomb scares
By Ben Lowry
01 July 2004
TRAFFIC was paralysed across Belfast today when the city's busiest arterial route and a number of other key roads were closed at the morning peak period, due to security alerts.
One of the first alerts, at Hilden railway halt between Dunmurry and Lisburn, was declared a hoax by mid morning.
Police had received a phone call at around 8.20am, claiming that a suspect device had been left at the station.
Two further security alerts resulted in the closure of the Westlink between Grosvenor Road and Broadway shortly after 8am.
Further alerts at the M3 onslip at Middlepath Street, near Bridge End, and at Wellington Park, at the junction of Lisburn Road, were declared hoaxes by late morning.
Another alert was continuing in the Stranmillis Road area, with diversions in place along Chlorine Gardens and towards Malone Road.
Outside Belfast, there was an alert on the M1 at Moira Bridge.
The Westlink, which is Northern Ireland's most heavily-used road, is due to be upgraded by 2010.
Work on the Westlink scheme, which will widen much of the route to three lanes in each direction, is not due to begin until 2007.
