A1 Northumberland Dualling

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KeithW
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by KeithW »

Survey work has already started on the now combined Morpeth to Ellingham improvement with the ground works due to start in 2022. The survey work includes some overnight closures of the Coquet Bridge this weekend.
https://highwaysengland.co.uk/our-work/ ... -dualling/
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by Glenn A »

Another problem on the Morpeth- Alnwick section of the A1 is the large volume of tourist traffic in summer. You have Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Holy Island and Seahouses all near the A1 and I can remember even in 1979, the A1 seizing up 2 miles north of Morpeth. Then there is the dreaded farm traffic to contend with.
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wrinkly
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by wrinkly »

Examination by the Planning Inspectorate closed on 5 July. They have 3 months from that date to write up and submit a recommendation to the SoS, who will then have 3 months to make a decision.

https://infrastructure.planninginspecto ... ellingham/
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

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wrinkly wrote:Examination by the Planning Inspectorate closed on 5 July. They have 3 months from that date to write up and submit a recommendation to the SoS, who will then have 3 months to make a decision.

https://infrastructure.planninginspecto ... ellingham/
How many times has this been through the process now. Just to get all the legal process and for it to be shelved before any work starts.
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Bryn666
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by Bryn666 »

If Johnson is serious about his commitment to the Union, filling the gaps between Morpeth and the border would be a huge safety improvement as well as a political good news story for this bit of the A1.
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by scrogghill »

What's the record for the most studied stretch of road without any upgrade actually happening? Morpeth-Felton has to be a contender.
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wrinkly
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by wrinkly »

If you count roads that have never existed, the M1-A1 Scratchwood link is probably a contender.

Quite a lot of bypasses and improvements on second-rank trunk roads were in and out of the programme two or three times before they actually happened (or have not yet happened), usually because they turned out to be hard to justify financially. Often they were tweaked by expanding or reducing their scope a few times in the hope that the cost-benefit would come out better.
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by Paul7755 »

djw1981 wrote: Sat Jul 17, 2021 13:56 Absolutely. It's not even as if there are major obstacles - there's mostly farmland to one side or other all the way up so minimal house purchases etc. The bridge across Coquet will need some work, but other than that it's an 11 mile section which has already had plans commenced, so should be an easy one for BJ to demonstrate his 'build back better / northern powerhouse / red wall' credentials.

You probably need a GSJ at Eshott for holiday park etc and to access local roads, but otherwise most places are accessible from other nearby roads so an LAR would probably not be needed?
The old A1 carriageway does become a local access road between Fenrother/Tritlington and the Felton (Westmoor) junction, but with the northern end on a new alignment past Eshott airfield and holiday parks etc. I think this has been confirmed as the preferred route a few years now though?

At South Charlton junction on the Denwick to North Charlton section there’s only a couple of dead end local accesses, (heading north on each side), but no continuous LAR.

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Chris5156
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

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scrogghill wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 10:49What's the record for the most studied stretch of road without any upgrade actually happening? Morpeth-Felton has to be a contender.
I'll suggest the Eastern Avenue Extension, from Hackney to Angel.

Eastern Avenue (now A12) opened in the late 1920s and originally finished at Redbridge. Inward from there the Ministry of Transport had plans to extend the route further into London but these didn't happen. Eventually the "M11 Link Road" (also now A12) was opened in the mid-1990s which did extend the route as far as Hackney.

Between Hackney and Angel, the plans went through many phases, not all of which I will remember off the top of my head:
- 1904 Royal Commission proposal for an East West Avenue across central London, made by cutting a route through existing buildings, to be extended east towards Hackney
- 1920s aspiration to extend Eastern Avenue, means and route not specified
- 1936 Highway Development Plan proposal for "Route 1" which would travel via Dalston and tunnel under Pentonville
- late 1930s proposals to widen and straighten existing streets to form a through route
- 1960s GLC proposal for the Eastern Avenue Extension, first along the Regent's Canal and later along Hackney Road as an urban motorway or expressway
- 2010s TfL concept for a tunnelled Inner Ring Road (Boris Johnson's "big dig" project which came to nothing), including a spur from the ring road to Hackney, effectively building the route entirely underground

I make that 117 years of proposals and development work without a single thing built, apart from these carriageway stubs.
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by Sunil_of_Yoxley »

Chris5156 wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 14:45
scrogghill wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 10:49What's the record for the most studied stretch of road without any upgrade actually happening? Morpeth-Felton has to be a contender.
I'll suggest the Eastern Avenue Extension, from Hackney to Angel.

Eastern Avenue (now A12) opened in the late 1920s and originally finished at Redbridge. Inward from there the Ministry of Transport had plans to extend the route further into London but these didn't happen. Eventually the "M11 Link Road" (also now A12) was opened in the mid-1990s which did extend the route as far as Hackney.

Between Hackney and Angel, the plans went through many phases, not all of which I will remember off the top of my head:
- 1904 Royal Commission proposal for an East West Avenue across central London, made by cutting a route through existing buildings, to be extended east towards Hackney
- 1920s aspiration to extend Eastern Avenue, means and route not specified
- 1936 Highway Development Plan proposal for "Route 1" which would travel via Dalston and tunnel under Pentonville
- late 1930s proposals to widen and straighten existing streets to form a through route
- 1960s GLC proposal for the Eastern Avenue Extension, first along the Regent's Canal and later along Hackney Road as an urban motorway or expressway
- 2010s TfL concept for a tunnelled Inner Ring Road (Boris Johnson's "big dig" project which came to nothing), including a spur from the ring road to Hackney, effectively building the route entirely underground

I make that 117 years of proposals and development work without a single thing built, apart from these carriageway stubs.
Of course, I have to defer to your superior knowledge, but isn't the current East Cross Route east of Hackney the lower deck (intended A12), while the M11 would have been built above as a double-deck route which then flowed directly onto the North Cross Route?

Oh, and pre-1998, the Eastern Avenue terminated at the George Green lights in Wanstead.
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by Paul7755 »

There’s been confusing reports appearing this afternoon that Boris is wanting to dual the A1 “north of Berwick and into Scotland”.

What does that actually mean, given that he has no responsibility for the road beyond the border at Marshall Meadows, and the last bit in England and just over the border is already dualled?

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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

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Paul7755 wrote:There’s been confusing reports appearing this afternoon that Boris is wanting to dual the A1 “north of Berwick and into Scotland”.

What does that actually mean, given that he has no responsibility for the road beyond the border at Marshall Meadows, and the last bit in England and just over the border is already dualled?

Paul
No doubt doing his usual gaslighting and will claim an achievement that was already done decades before.
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by wrinkly »

He apparently said

"we will restore those sinews of the union that have been allowed to atrophy.

The A1 north of Berwick and on into Scotland; the A 75 in Scotland that is so vital for the links with northern Ireland and the rest of the country; the North Wales corridor."

This is not the first time Johnson has appeared to suggest that the UK government will try to carry out road schemes that are the devolved responsibility of the Welsh and Scottish governments. His Union Connectivity Review is, according to some accounts, partly about that.
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

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wrinkly wrote:He apparently said

"we will restore those sinews of the union that have been allowed to atrophy.

The A1 north of Berwick and on into Scotland; the A 75 in Scotland that is so vital for the links with northern Ireland and the rest of the country; the North Wales corridor."

This is not the first time Johnson has appeared to suggest that the UK government will try to carry out road schemes that are the devolved responsibility of the Welsh and Scottish governments. His Union Connectivity Review is, according to some accounts, partly about that.
Not much to do with A1 Northumberland dualling and all about the politics of Conservatives vs SNP and independence.
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exiled
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by exiled »

Mark Hewitt wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 20:24
wrinkly wrote:He apparently said

"we will restore those sinews of the union that have been allowed to atrophy.

The A1 north of Berwick and on into Scotland; the A 75 in Scotland that is so vital for the links with northern Ireland and the rest of the country; the North Wales corridor."

This is not the first time Johnson has appeared to suggest that the UK government will try to carry out road schemes that are the devolved responsibility of the Welsh and Scottish governments. His Union Connectivity Review is, according to some accounts, partly about that.
Not much to do with A1 Northumberland dualling and all about the politics of Conservatives vs SNP and independence.
Also it is about Cons v Labour in Wales. This is seen as an easy bit of the power grabs from Edinburgh and Cardiff the current UK government is after. For the A1 there is little left undualled north of the border, those bits are not worth dualling until the Northumberland section is dualled.
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

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exiled wrote:
Mark Hewitt wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 20:24
wrinkly wrote:He apparently said

"we will restore those sinews of the union that have been allowed to atrophy.

The A1 north of Berwick and on into Scotland; the A 75 in Scotland that is so vital for the links with northern Ireland and the rest of the country; the North Wales corridor."

This is not the first time Johnson has appeared to suggest that the UK government will try to carry out road schemes that are the devolved responsibility of the Welsh and Scottish governments. His Union Connectivity Review is, according to some accounts, partly about that.
Not much to do with A1 Northumberland dualling and all about the politics of Conservatives vs SNP and independence.
Also it is about Cons v Labour in Wales. This is seen as an easy bit of the power grabs from Edinburgh and Cardiff the current UK government is after. For the A1 there is little left undualled north of the border, those bits are not worth dualling until the Northumberland section is dualled.
I wouldn't really agree with that. There are still significant stretches of S2 which are very often rather slow. They would definitely benefit from dualling even with the absence of any further work in Northumberland.
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jackal
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by jackal »

"05/01/2022 - Deadline for Secretary of State to make decision

The Examining Authority issued a Recommendation Report to the Secretary of State on 05 October 2021. The Secretary of State has three months in which to issue a decision. The decision letter and Recommendation Report will be published on this project page once a decision has been made."

https://infrastructure.planninginspecto ... ellingham/#
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by Mark Hewitt »

jackal wrote:"05/01/2022 - Deadline for Secretary of State to make decision

The Examining Authority issued a Recommendation Report to the Secretary of State on 05 October 2021. The Secretary of State has three months in which to issue a decision. The decision letter and Recommendation Report will be published on this project page once a decision has been made."

https://infrastructure.planninginspecto ... ellingham/#
Going back to my previous posts in this thread. That part desperately needs sorting. The rest is arguable and sufficiently quiet that S2 doesn't seem out of place.
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

Post by Altnabreac »

wrinkly wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 20:04 He apparently said

"we will restore those sinews of the union that have been allowed to atrophy.

The A1 north of Berwick and on into Scotland; the A 75 in Scotland that is so vital for the links with northern Ireland and the rest of the country; the North Wales corridor."

This is not the first time Johnson has appeared to suggest that the UK government will try to carry out road schemes that are the devolved responsibility of the Welsh and Scottish governments. His Union Connectivity Review is, according to some accounts, partly about that.
The Union Connectivity Review is simultaneously a naked piece of political opportunism by Boris attempting to muscle in on the devolved administrations and a logical and sensible idea.

In a devolved system the priorities will always be domestic so cross boundary routes are less likely to be prioritised. This was recognised in the USA with Interstates and in the EU with the TEN-T programme to fund cross border road and rail projects.

I don't think anyone could argue with a strategic planning and funding mechanism that identifies weaknesses in cross border infrastructure and helps to fund and deliver them. That's the way Peter Hendy has written the Union Connectivity Review interim report.

However I suspect the way the report will be implemented will be a combative Westminster overruling devolved administrations and I'm not sure that narrative will be helpful to actual on the ground delivery.

A funding mechanism that allows Transport Scotland to bid for Westminster money for say a Reston - Ayton A1 dualing scheme and a Springholm and Crocketford A75 bypass scheme would be great. An announcement of routes and schemes for the A1 and A75 by UK ministers without Scottish input would be much more divisive and less likely to actually be delivered on the ground.
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Re: A1 Northumberland Dualling

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From national highways england
Development Consent Order decision delayed until June 2022

The Secretary of State has asked for more time to consider our proposals for upgrading the A1 between Morpeth and Ellingham in Northumberland.

We’re committed to delivering these improvements and remain confident that our proposals will deliver much needed additional capacity, with better connectivity for people and business, and safer journeys for everyone.

We’d like to thank everyone for their engagement and contribution in the development of the scheme to date.

We will continue to work with the Planning Inspectorate, local stakeholders and local authorities until the Secretary of State makes his decision, which is now expected in early June 2022.
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