A1/Morpeth - Dunbar

South|North

The Northern England/Scotland section of the A1 is possibly the longest the road stays on its historic alignment. The Scottish section of the road is mainly made up of short bypasses and realignments while much of the English section of this route is an online upgrade. Much of the road is 70s and 80s construction with a few modern upgrades here and there which give a road a very varied design.

Route

England: Morpeth - Berwick

The Felton bypass begins with the crossing of the River Coquet and the start of the 6 mile dual carriageway section. The route bends East to pass Alnwick via the bypass opened in 1970 (as single carriageway) and returns to S2. There is a short realignment of the route with an even shorter section of dual carriageway. A little while later the road passes over the notorious Mousen Bends where the road has tight bends and a no overtaking restriction.

Lindisfarne Inn, at the junction for Holy Island. The inn is situated by an old section of the A1, the modern road is to the left of the photo.

The lack of dual carriageway is rather tedious but much of the time the road is rather wide and open so offers good sightlines for passing the slower traffic. The first roundabout in a while marks the south end of the Berwick bypass where there are a few junctions which are D1 with an northbound overtaking lane which runs round the northern section and stops short of the northern roundabout.

Scotland: Berwick - Dunbar

Crossing the roundabout a short dualled section takes the road into Scotland and runs along the coastline with fantastic views. There is effectively an S3 section which passes under the railway with priority given to southbound traffic with northbound traffic allowed to use the centre lane.

The next section has 2 strips of dual carriageway and some overtaking lanes passing Heugh Head and Cockburnspath. one of the last few roundabouts allows access to Cove and the start of the dual carriageway passing Dunbar. We end on the Thistly Cross roundabout as the HQ dual carriageway takes us all the way to Edinburgh.

For many years there has been a prominent urge to upgrade the remaining single carriageway sections of the A1 to full dual carriageway but nothing seems to have been brought to finalisation yet. So the single carriageways will be staying for a while it seems.

Improvements

1970: Morpeth Bypass

A two-lane dual carriageway bypass of Morpeth.

1970: Alnwick Bypass

A single carriageway bypass of Alnwick incorporating a crossing of the river Aln.

1977: Warrenford Bypass

The single carriageway road was opened in 1978 per CIHT North Eastern Branch media file "The A1 Trunk Road".

1981: Felton Bypass

A single carriageway bypass of Felton, to tie in with the Alnwick bypass, and creating a new crossing of the River Coquet. Opened 27 November 1981 by Kenneth Clarke, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport. Construction stated in September 1978. Cost was £4.9 million. It included a bridge over the River Coquet which was built by Balfour Beattie Ltd of Edinburgh. The road sections were built in three phases by the direct labour force of Northumberland County Council. The Bockenfield section had been opened by March 1981.

1981: Ayton Bypass

A single carriageway bypass of Ayton.

1983: Belford Bypass

The single carriageway road was opened on 28 July 1983 by Alan Beith, MP for Berwick. Contractor was Gleeson Civil Engineering Limited. Construction began in October 1981 and was completed 2 months ahead of schedule. Cost £3.7 million.

1983: Berwick Bypass

A single carriageway bypass of Berwick upon Tweed, featuring several roundabouts and a crossing of the River Tweed. Opened 4 November 1983 by Nicholas Ridley, Transport Secretary. Cost £8.5 million.

1985: Alnwick Bypass

Stage 2 - the single carriageway section between Denwick and Charlton Mires was opened on 9 December 1985 by the Duke of Northumberland. Contractor was M J Gleeson Group Plc. Construction began in June 1984 and was completed 6 months ahead of schedule. Stage 1 had opened in 1970.

1992: Cockburnspath Bypass

The single carriageway road was opened on 7 December 1992 by Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, Scottish Transport Minister. Cost £10 million.

1993: Brownieside Improvements

Minor junction improvements and short section of two lane dual carriageway.

1999: Spott Roundabout to Oswald Dean (A1087)

Dualling.

2002: Bowerhouse to Spott Roundabout

Dualling.

2003: Houndwood to Howburn

Dualling.

2003: Alnwick Bypass dualling

Dualling of the remainder of the first stage of the Alnwick bypass (between Willowburn and Denwick) including the viaduct over the Aln, this opened on 27th March 2003.

2005: Thistly Cross to Bowerhouse

Dualling.

Links

National Highways

• North of Ellingham Options  November 2016 (archive.org)

• Morpeth to Ellingham Options  November 2016 (archive.org)

• Post Opening Project Evaluation - A1 Willowburn to Denwick Improvement – Five Years After  February 2009 (archive.org)