C161 (Stockton-on-Tees)

This article is about the Class III road numbered C161 maintained by Stockton-on-Tees Council.
For other roads numbered C161, see C161.

The C161, maintained by Stockton-on-Tees Council, is the old A19 Billingham Bypass.

Route

Wolviston Road heading north

The route starts at a roundabout junction with the A1027 Bypass Road. The road here is known as Wolviston Road, and is a very typical 1960s urban dual carriageway with a 40mph speed limit. The road curves to the right and up and over the Durham Coast Railway Line. On the other side of the bridge the road is surrounded on both sides by housing, and we reach a signalised staggered crossroads with Sandy Lane and Station Road. Shortly after we reach an odd shaped roundabout with Roseberry Road - a dual carriageway that heads to the Billingham Forum. The roundabout is odd in that northbound traffic need not stop - traffic turning right from Roseberry Road must stop on the roundabout. Southbound traffic behaves as normal, giving way to traffic on the roundabout.

Wolviston Road carries on north, still as a dual carriageway. Shortly we reach an offslip (northbound only) that takes Wolviston Road off to a roundabout - this is the C149 which is the old road heading into Wolviston village. Our route bends to the right and onto a 1970 style section of dual carriageway with a 50mph limit - however one lane is now hatched off until the two sides of the dual carriageway separate and two lanes appear again.

The road ends at a large roundabout that is part of the Wolviston Interchange complex. To reach the A19 one must turn left and briefly follow the A689 to the modern roundabout and bypass. The road ahead is a southbound offslip from the A19 that reuses part of the original bypass road.

History

The One Inch Series map showing the old roads as of 1974. Wolviston is now bypassed.

Prior to 1967, the A19 and the A689 used to meet in the centre of Wolviston, with a dual carriageway running through Billingham to the edge of Wolviston village. In 1967, the £7.0m Wolviston to Sheraton dual carriageway was opened north of Billingham. This diverted the two main roads away from the village, and the route through the village became the C149. The bypass was again bypassed in 1982, downgrading the A19 route to become the C161, leaving us with the situation we have today. As part of these works, the flyover at Wolviston Interchange was removed (hence the two carriageways flaring here). The remaining route north of the old flyover still exists - northbound is a two way access to a farm, and southbound is an off slip from the southbound A19.