Roadworks will ‘considerably alter how traffic operates in Omagh’

New roadworks in Omagh linked to the Strule Shared Education Campus are expected to cost £3.4m.

The campus, the largest education project ever undertaken in the North, will bring together an estimated 4,000 pupils from six schools on the one site.

The Department of Education said the schools will ‘work together to provide a shared curriculum and a wide range of extra-curricular activities’.

A shared sports centre will be one of the key elements of the campus, which is scheduled to open in September 2028.

The schools involved in the project are: Arvalee School and Resource Centre; Christian Brothers Grammar School; Loreto Grammar School; Omagh Academy Grammar School; Omagh High School; and Sacred Heart College.

The Strule campus is being built on a 125-acre site close to the centre of Omagh and those involved say it will ‘considerably alter how traffic operates in Omagh’.

The Department of Infrastructure is currently advertising a tender for some of the road upgrades.

The roadworks will include the widening of the Gortin Road from two lanes to four lanes.

There will be a signalised crossing at the Gortin Road/Strathroy junction and an upgrade to the signalised crossing at Mountjoy Road.

The work will also see a new footpath and layby built at Maryville Terrace.

According to the tender for the new roadworks, they will cost an estimated £3.4m.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Paul Givan, this week confirmed the overall proposed cost of the Strule campus remains at £375m.

Mr Givan was responding at the Northern Ireland Assembly to a request for an update on the plans for the campus.

Mr Givan said: “The latest estimate (at December 2024) is that up to a further £312m capital and £7m revenue investment is required to complete construction of the campus and fund support and evaluation costs for 10 years after campus opening.

“This will bring the total overall estimated DE cost of the Strule Campus to £375m.

“The campus is expected to be delivered within the costs set out above with full campus opening planned for September 2028,” he added.