Believe me it did seem slow when on that section I would say 50mph was the norm, The A1 there was a very straight D2 and was Just full of traffic, again many accidents occurred in these conditions as it only took one wrong move or your eyes off the road for a second and there was very little room for error, with HGV's making up a large amount of the traffic, side turnings, pedestrians and farm traffic the road could also Just stop dead.

The difference now is amazing with the D3M traffic flows well over 70mph Just now comes to a halt where it goes back to D2!

Indeed when you are doing 80mph on the D3M stretch and then you are doing 50mph with a lorry on your left and traffic all around it did feel slow and claustrophobic.

Ah ok, I understand what you mean then. Still, I wouldn't say it is particularly slow, just something expected for the Friday night rush.

It was every night, not just Friday.

Which is then putting further pressure on the S2 sections of the A66 however there's no sign at all that they are ever going to the dualled. To think that not that long ago we were looking forward to a fully D3M'ed A1(M) through Yorkshire and a fully D'ed2 A66 across to the M6, now we're going to have some serious gaps for the foreseeable future.

Anything less than 56mph (90km/h, the de facto speed for HGVs) on a NSL trunk road is slow.

Well, yeah, it's not free flow, that's for sure, but it is to be expected when there's particular peaks in traffic demand. Maybe I just have a higher threshold for speed restrictions?

When it's continuous for over 20 miles, many drivers are on much longer journeys, and it's a very rural part of the country, it does feel unacceptably slow.

We're not talking about congestion on roads like the M60 here, a road which is rarely more than a couple of hundred yards from a building, has junctions with major roads every couple of miles and is rammed full of people making short journeys of maybe 5 or 10 miles. This would be like the M40 being solid at 50mph between Gaydon and Cherwell Valley every evening.

And from my own experience, I would say that averaging 50mph on a Friday night would have been an exceptionally good run, I certainly wouldn't have expected to do that between Dishforth and Scotch Corner before the upgrade started.

Last weekend (in between showers) I went for an explore along the ‘new’ A6055 Local Access Road.
Between the B6267 and Leeming (not far from the vicinity where Oak Tree Garage used to be I think) I came across the following bridge located on the small strip of land between the LAR and the new A1(M).






Is this bridge part of the old A1 from way back and is it listed or something, hence it remaining? It does have a small stream running under it (also there is a new motorway bridge over this stream as well).

The area where it is has new paths down to it and there is what appears to be a ‘lump’ of stone on a plinth at the northern end but no sign or anything to state its relevance or why it has been ‘preserved’.




I have not noticed this before even though I have travelled up and down the A1 for years!!

Anyone any ideas?

Thanks

Pete

The bridge is Healam Bridge. Other sites describe its listing as grade II rather than I. It was still part of the A1 in 1930 but had been bypassed by the new D2 by 1956.

Many thanks for that Wrinkly,

I didn't realise the historical importance of the Healam Bridge Fort (or even knew that it existed) and the significance of the actual bridge itself. I think it is quite good that building the new motorway has made this bridge visible - I must have passed it hundreds of times on the old D2 A1 and never knew it was there!!

I will have a further explore of the LAR next week, hopefully to see what other things building the new D3 motorway as unearthed.

Thanks again.

Pete

According to the local press, the A1(M) upgrade has now been officially opened:

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9804696 ... is_opened/

A1 upgrade is opened

8:33am Saturday 7th July 2012 in News

''A MULTI-MILLION pound upgrade to a North Yorkshire motorway has been officially opened.

Work on the A1 between Dishforth and Leeming started in March 2009. The new three-lane carriageways and a new access road were completed earlier this year.

The £318 million scheme involved bringing in 270,000 wagon loads of materials, building 11 new bridges, demolishing six others, laying 106 miles of drains and erecting 44 miles of fencing.

This week, Graham Dalton, chief executive of the Highways Agency, visited the upgraded section with David Bowe, North Yorkshire County Council’s corporate director for business and environmental services, to cut a ribbon and unveiled a special commemorative plaque''.



Just need the Leeming to Barton upgrade to start now (yes I am dreaming that bit)

Pete

No Notice of Opening yet in the London Gazette. Should have been in April when the main carriageways were finished. This is becoming a habit.

I'd like in particular to thank wrinkly for all his helpful posts as this project has progressed. Really-thinking back to when the whole project was abandoned in 1996 after having got so near to starting we're lucky to have half of it. Will it ever be finished? Oh I think so! Will I live to see it? Hmmm....

I had a looksee at this today.

I think it's a very well constructed piece of new road all things considered, but definitely noticed the contrast between the new D3M and the D2 remaining to the north.

Perhaps I shall join the calls for it to be finished sooner rather than later

Whilst there is less traffic, I would also say the north end of the A1(M)section at Peterbrough also ends quite dramatically from D3 to D2 (soon after going down from D4 to D3 at the earler exit) to stretch which is narrow, having no shoulders, and is also quite windy and humpy.

The effect at Peterborough is noticable as there a large trees quite close to the road so it feels like you're driving into a tunnel compared with the wide open motorway.

http://goo.gl/maps/CnYx

Noticed this morning a whole load of small cameras between Leeming and Scotch Corner that appear to be monitoring the gaps in the central reservation. I presume to see how often they are used?

Maybe, they could also be used to activate a sign which flashes up to the oncoming traffic.

Don't think so, they look very temporary, some are just slashed to existing road signs with gaffer tape!