The study of British and Irish roads - their construction, numbering, history, mapping, past and future official roads proposals and general roads musings.
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You can see it, for example, on the 1" Seventh Series on SABRE Maps.
it was a 'C' class road, that has been 'promoted' to an 'A' Class road with either no, or very very minimal work being done to it (no guttering/kerbs, cats eyes etc). It just looks as if it is the bit that L2B forgot in the A1 upgrade.
I think that's in line with the LAR elsewhere. Each bit is either
1) New construction, in which case it's to modern single carriageway standards
2) Part of the newly bypassed A1, in which case one carriageway is removed and the other is modified to suit its new role
or 3) part of an existing single carriageway, in which case it's left untouched except at the tie-ins. For example, through Brompton-on-Swale or through Aberford.
You can see it, for example, on the 1" Seventh Series on SABRE Maps.
it was a 'C' class road, that has been 'promoted' to an 'A' Class road with either no, or very very minimal work being done to it (no guttering/kerbs, cats eyes etc). It just looks as if it is the bit that L2B forgot in the A1 upgrade.
I think that's in line with the LAR elsewhere. Each bit is either
1) New construction, in which case it's to modern single carriageway standards
2) Part of the newly bypassed A1, in which case one carriageway is removed and the other is modified to suit its new role
or 3) part of an existing single carriageway, in which case it's left untouched except at the tie-ins. For example, through Brompton-on-Swale or through Aberford.
Yes, I see what you mean, however Gatherley Road (the LAR through Brompton on Swale) was already an 'A' road (A6136). It has proper kerbs, decent drainage etc, albeit only a 40mph stretch. It even had the traffic lights replaced at the junction with the B6271 not too long ago.
I am not too familiar with Aberford but wasn't that road part of the A1 from a lot more recent times than Kneeton Lane?
I just think Kneeton Lane has been promoted from a 'C' road to an 'A' road when it should have been upgraded to make it into a proper 'A' Road.
Repmobile wrote:
I am not too familiar with Aberford but wasn't that road part of the A1 from a lot more recent times than Kneeton Lane?
I think Aberford and Kneeton Lane were both bypassed in the original dualling of the A1 in the 1960s or late 50s. The road through Aberford remains a C road but is the only local all-purpose alternative to its bit of the A1(M).
Repmobile wrote:
I am not too familiar with Aberford but wasn't that road part of the A1 from a lot more recent times than Kneeton Lane?
I think Aberford and Kneeton Lane were both bypassed in the original dualling of the A1 in the 1960s or late 50s. The road through Aberford remains a C road but is the only local all-purpose alternative to its bit of the A1(M).
To my surprise (my regular trips having ceased) the Scotch Corner roundabout is looking close to finished. They might just make it in Spring before Summer comes in.
wrinkly wrote: ↑Thu May 17, 2018 13:40
And BBC Look North is reporting that it was officially opened by Grayling today.
I was watching and most drivers interviewed at Scotch Corner Services were delighted after 4 years of roadworks. Also, a big improvement for me is the Catterick Central junction, it means my visits to the racecourse will no longer mean a tedious slog through Catterick, as the new junction is only 200 yards from the racecourse.
I think any joy of having Leeming to Barton open is going to be a bit of a short lived situation.
Just north of J50 (Baldersby) on the northbound carriageway a sign has appeared saying that roadworks will commence on the 4th of June for twenty six weeks and to expect delays. This is a section only built five years ago, that now needs major re-engineering lasting six months!
I often wondered where the SPECS cameras from the L2B project were going to go to next. I think I now know.
Repmobile wrote: ↑Mon May 28, 2018 16:55
I think any joy of having Leeming to Barton open is going to be a bit of a short lived situation.
Just north of J50 (Baldersby) on the northbound carriageway a sign has appeared saying that roadworks will commence on the 4th of June for twenty six weeks and to expect delays. This is a section only built five years ago, that now needs major re-engineering lasting six months!
I often wondered where the SPECS cameras from the L2B project were going to go to next. I think I now know.
At least we might be getting rid of the National embarrassment at J51 sooner than expected then!
Mark Hewitt wrote: ↑Sun Oct 01, 2017 08:36
There’s many problems with the West Coast route if you’re starting North of Scotch Corner. The A69 isn’t brilliant for starters. Then you get to the A74(M) which is good but it doesn’t head due North to Edinburgh it heads North-West which can only be corrected when you get to the A702 which is a poor quality road too.
All in all you’re better off sticking to the A1. It’s not likely to require motorway any time soon but plugging the gaps in the S2 would go a long way not just for journeys to Edinburgh but the whole of Northumberland and up to Berwick.
I've been doing Central belt to North Tyneside for at least a decade now and have tended to take the A68/A697/A1/A19 option from the Edinburgh bypass - less lorries, less cameras, more overtaking opportunities as I know the road better.
Yesterday (Sunday) I had to be on Tyneside for 8am, but couldn't go down the night before. I left home at 4.40am, and hit the M8 as mist came down, the Edinburgh bypass was getting into fog light levels of visibility. Google was advocating A1 route, and given the lesser HGV traffic on a BH Sunday I thus decided to try the A1 route all the way.
Not knowing where cameras were kept me at a pretty much NSL speed throughout. there was little traffic heading south, and despite the well documented S2 sections, these were fine apart from some moderately sharp curves between Berwick and Alnick.
djw1981 wrote: ↑Mon May 28, 2018 18:57
I've been doing Central belt to North Tyneside for at least a decade now and have tended to take the A68/A697/A1/A19 option from the Edinburgh bypass - less lorries, less cameras, more overtaking opportunities as I know the road better.
I've never heard less cameras used to describe the A68/A697 before.
I was meaning to post I noticed these roadwork signs on a trip to Newcastle over the weekend, I’m going to email Highways England about this and see if they have any answers as to why a new road which is now 5 years old is needing full reconstruction which will be the same as was done from J49 to J50, I shall also be asking how much this whole fiasco is costing especially given they could not afford to alter the layout at J51.
If you compare to the section south of J49 which was opened in the early 90’s and has never had full reconstruction, it’s simply had some resurfacing of both lanes 1 and 2 but the hard shoulder and lane 3 is running on the original tarmac! So why is a 5 year old motorway having the complete works including resurfacing the hardshoulder which straight away points to some construction issue.
On a side note I see moto are still trying for a new services at Baldersby Gate and are running a consultation about it, something is definitely needed as on Saturday both Scotch corner and Wetherby were queuing to get into car parks.
NICK 647063 wrote: ↑Mon May 28, 2018 20:54
I was meaning to post I noticed these roadwork signs on a trip to Newcastle over the weekend, I’m going to email Highways England about this and see if they have any answers as to why a new road which is now 5 years old is needing full reconstruction which will be the same as was done from J49 to J50, I shall also be asking how much this whole fiasco is costing especially given they could not afford to alter the layout at J51.
If you compare to the section south of J49 which was opened in the early 90’s and has never had full reconstruction, it’s simply had some resurfacing of both lanes 1 and 2 but the hard shoulder and lane 3 is running on the original tarmac! So why is a 5 year old motorway having the complete works including resurfacing the hardshoulder which straight away points to some construction issue.
On a side note I see moto are still trying for a new services at Baldersby Gate and are running a consultation about it, something is definitely needed as on Saturday both Scotch corner and Wetherby were queuing to get into car parks.
I will be interested to hear what HE come back with regarding the need for the reconstruction north of J50.
Re the services, yes I noticed the consultation. I get the feeling that Moto are not spending anything on Leeming Bar Services/Rest Area as they view it as a non-starter (despite them purchasing it a few years ago). They seem to want a new more 'on-line' or 'just off-line' build that doesn't involve a trip down the LAR.
I like Leeming Bar because it’s got a ‘proper’ McDonald’s, but other than that it’s a massive pain to get to from either direction in truth. The LAR is just too far (to the south) to be ‘in and out’ - Cairn Lodge on the M74 is about the max I’d say.
I stopped at Exelby services last time I was that way - yes, it's a bit of a pain being off the motorway, but much cheaper and nicer than Scotch Corner services, which itself sits on a congested roundabout.
Made the mistake of stopping at A1(M) J61 services the other week - it was impossible to actually get out of,with queues gridlocking the entire complex - definitely a candidate for signalisation and widening of all the approaches and exit.
