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The M12 was to be an urban motorway serving the new town of Craigavon, burrowing into the town and forming a C-shape, beginning on the M1. This part of it was built along with the M1, and nothing was ever done to finish it. The whole of Craigavon is basically half-built.

The M12 has a questionable start. Motorway restrictions begin halfway underneath junction 2, where the road widens out to dual carriageway. Technically non-motorway traffic can use the road until this point, from which there is no exit.

Junction 1 was originally envisaged to be a three-level interchange. In the 1960s it was opened with east-facing slips only, and a bridge was built over the M1 ready for its completion. In 1992, the junction was finished, but without actually bothering to build a third bridge to complete the interchange - instead using a flat roundabout to connect the three arms. It does look ridiculous, but it's functionally no different from a roundabout interchange - these kick off a number of mainland motorways like the M50 and M180.

Those used to driving on the mainland will probably look twice when they see that junction two connects with the B2.

Factfile

Start	North Craigavon (M1)
Finish	Craigavon (A3)
Passes	None
Length	1 miles
Terminates	None
Spurs	None
Meets	None

There are no photos in this section yet.

Construction Timeline

When the various parts of the M12 (Northern Ireland) were built, listed in chronological order.

Open		Jct	Section
	1970		Entire motorway

Exit List

All the junctions and destinations along the route.

Junction		Northbound								Southbound
1		Dungannon Cookstown M1 Belfast Lisburn M1		M1		NORTH		M1		N/A
		1 mile, 2 lanes								1 mile, 2 lanes
2		N/A		B2		(A3) SOUTH		B2		Carn Seagoe B2 Craigavon Centre Portadown Armagh (A3)

With thanks to Wesley Johnston for information in this section.