An AI generated look into the future ! The Ards Peninsula: A Case File On Managed Decline For over sixty years the Strangford Lough question has been framed the same way: can we justify a fixed crossing? The wrong question. The correct question : What is the running cost of doing nothing, and who is […]
Portavogie Harbour A Portavogie Parent’s Question: How Does Our Child Get a Good Education — and Come Home to Build Something? Kevin Barry BSc(Hons) MRICS — strangfordloughcrossing.org In an earlier piece this week I argued that the case for a Strangford Lough crossing is, at heart, a case about option value — the value of keeping doors open for […]
Strangford Lough Crossing: Keeping Our Options Open When we talk about a bridge or tunnel across Strangford Lough, most people understandably ask one question first: “Will enough people use it?”. That matters – but it isn’t the whole story. Big, long‑lived projects like this are also about something simpler and more human: keeping our options […]
STRANGFORD LOUGH CROSSING CAMPAIGN From the Front Pages of Today to the Front Pages of 2032 The Ards Chronicle placed the campaign on its front page on 12 March 2026. Six years from now, three of Northern Ireland’s leading newspapers could carry a very different story — if the Department for Infrastructure acts now. Kevin […]
Paying for Nothing — Every Single Year Position Paper | Strangford Lough Crossing Campaign | June 2026 The public funds a ferry subsidy of £2.09 million a year. It creates no asset, serves a capped timetable, and is used to argue against the crossing that would replace it. This has to stop. Key figures On […]
Three Lough Ferries — What Population Does to Viability, and What That Means for Any Future Crossing Published: May 2026 | Author: Kevin Barry BSc(Hons) MRICS | Category: Latest News Northern Ireland is served by three lough ferry crossings: Strangford Lough, Carlingford Lough, and Lough Foyle. All three operate under broadly similar conditions — short sea crossings linking communities on […]
Know Your Costs Before You Commission Your Architect: Introducing ExtendIQ A professional-grade house extension cost calculator, built on 2026 UK market data, now available free to try — giving homeowners across the United Kingdom an informed foundation before a single drawing is produced. Quintin QS·Published May 2026·For all UK clients One of the most common […]
The Monopoly the Market Never Got to Judge A subsidised ferry service. A refused feasibility study. And a question no one in government will answer. Kevin Barry BSc(Hons) MRICS | Campaign Lead | May 2026 There is a simple commercial test that any independent-minded analyst would apply to a publicly funded operation: is the taxpayer […]
What the Strangford Lough Crossing Traffic and Diversion Heatmap Shows A plain-language guide for the general public and elected representatives The heatmap is an interactive map of the roads around Strangford Lough. Each road is coloured by how many vehicles use it every day, measured in Vehicles Per Day (VPD), also known as the Annual […]
Click on image above for SLC heatmap See the Traffic Story: Our New Interactive Heatmap Explained By Kevin Barry BSc(Hons) MRICS, Quintin QS Source: Quintin QS TAG Appraisal, March 2026 Introduction We have published an interactive traffic heatmap for the proposed Strangford Lough Crossing. It is a visual tool built directly on Department for Infrastructure […]