Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy officially launched the Charity Race and Fun Run - "Between the Bridges" which will take place on 8th March 2009 on the Westlink.

The 10km charity road race and 5km Fun Run for the Northern Ireland Hospice is supported by the Belfast City Council, Sport Northern Ireland, Community Relations Council and the Department for Regional Development.

Conor Murphy said: "This unique community event will start at Broadway up to Stockmans Lane, down to Clifton Street and back to Broadway using the M1 and Westlink and will provide runners with a unique opportunity to run on one of the largest road projects in the North.

"I would encourage everyone to consider taking part - it is for all abilities from young and old, to experienced runners and novices and I will myself be supporting the event by taking part in the run."
"By March 2009 the M1 and Westlink £103Million scheme will be completed and fully operational. The Westlink connects the M1 from the south and west to the M2 and M3 Motorways and also serves the main industrial areas of Belfast as well as the port and airports.

"This scheme to improve the route started in January 2006 and will remove the two bottlenecks at Broadway and Grosvenor Road junctions and create three continuous lanes in each direction between Stockman's Lane on the M1 to Divis Street on the Westlink. This will reduce congestion and improve journey times for all traffic using the M1 and Westlink. Importantly, for the freight transport industry, it will significantly improve journey time reliability, particularly at peak times."

The contractor, Highway Management Construction (HMC) has worked almost 2 million man hours on the project to date and the scheme is presently 6 months ahead of schedule.