A1 Western bypass widening

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GC_NEMan1
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by GC_NEMan1 »

Actually I doubt it will fill up with traffic as capacity is still limited by the Allerdene railway bridge over the ECML between junctions 66 and 67.

If this bridge is replaced with a three-lanes-each-way bridge on the other hand...
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Mark Hewitt »

As I believe is the plan
CallumParry
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by CallumParry »

I actually really like it driven it twice this week and it's miles better than it was before. If the remainder sections of the Newcastle and Gateshead Western By-pass are completed to this standard it would be one amazing road! The signage is alot better and clearer too!
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wrinkly
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by wrinkly »

Was there today. No hole in sight - it must have been fixed.
Paul7755
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Paul7755 »

wrinkly wrote:Was there today. No hole in sight - it must have been fixed.
It was reported fixed in local media on 29th of June, so looks like it only took the three days to repair that were predicted in the Highways England announcement of the 26th.

Paul
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Mark Hewitt »

Considering I've ended up going through the roadworks most weekends when it's been on I haven't been through since it's open yet, this is most irregular.
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Mark Hewitt »

Paul7755 wrote:
wrinkly wrote:Was there today. No hole in sight - it must have been fixed.
It was reported fixed in local media on 29th of June, so looks like it only took the three days to repair that were predicted in the Highways England announcement of the 26th.

Paul
Welcome to SABRE ;)
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wrinkly
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by wrinkly »

Just discovered this post from May:
jackal wrote:I suppose this is also the place to discuss the Scotswood to North Brunton scheme: http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/road-p ... th-Brunton

This will most likely be the option discussed in the stage 3 report:
J74 – J79 PROVISION OF 3 NARROW LANES (SCHEME LENGTH = 4.5 MILES)
• Provision of three narrow lanes between J74 – J78;
• Widening to three full lanes between J78 – J79;
• Lane gain/drop between junctions; and
• 50mph speed limit for narrow lanes section (for safety reasons).
I'm a bit confused as I thought much of this section was already D3 between junctions...
The D3 you're referring to is 74-77 except within junctions. From 77 northwards is D2, though 79-80, which dates from well before the western bypass and is outside the scope of your quote, has wide verges which must have been originally intended for future 3-laning.
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jackal
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by jackal »

wrinkly wrote:Just discovered this post from May:
jackal wrote:I suppose this is also the place to discuss the Scotswood to North Brunton scheme: http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/road-p ... th-Brunton

This will most likely be the option discussed in the stage 3 report:
J74 – J79 PROVISION OF 3 NARROW LANES (SCHEME LENGTH = 4.5 MILES)
• Provision of three narrow lanes between J74 – J78;
• Widening to three full lanes between J78 – J79;
• Lane gain/drop between junctions; and
• 50mph speed limit for narrow lanes section (for safety reasons).
I'm a bit confused as I thought much of this section was already D3 between junctions...
The D3 you're referring to is 74-77 except within junctions. From 77 northwards is D2, though 79-80, which dates from well before the western bypass and is outside the scope of your quote, has wide verges which must have been originally intended for future 3-laning.
That's pretty much what I thought. So presumably there will be widening within junctions for 74-77, and widening between and within junctions for 77-79, to provide continuous D3 along the whole scheme.

As an aside the bypass really does look bad compared to the older road north of it, both in terms of future proofing and junction spacing.
Orillion
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Orillion »

Decided to attempt a trip from Chester-le-Street to Seaton Burn this morning. Left home at fourteen minutes past seven and arrived at the Holiday Inn at Seaton Burn at twelve minutes to eight. The journey home was also good, despite quite a few people failing to keep left.

As Silverlink is to be dug up in the near future, I doubt if these easy journeys will last long, but what an improvement generally.
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Mark Hewitt »

Orillion wrote:Decided to attempt a trip from Chester-le-Street to Seaton Burn this morning. Left home at fourteen minutes past seven and arrived at the Holiday Inn at Seaton Burn at twelve minutes to eight. The journey home was also good, despite quite a few people failing to keep left.

As Silverlink is to be dug up in the near future, I doubt if these easy journeys will last long, but what an improvement generally.
Hello from Chester-le-Street ;). Sounds good, often there's little alternative to using the A1, especially headed for the A69 or the likes of Ponteland, the tunnel isn't an option.
Glenn A
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Glenn A »

Mark Hewitt wrote:
Orillion wrote:Decided to attempt a trip from Chester-le-Street to Seaton Burn this morning. Left home at fourteen minutes past seven and arrived at the Holiday Inn at Seaton Burn at twelve minutes to eight. The journey home was also good, despite quite a few people failing to keep left.

As Silverlink is to be dug up in the near future, I doubt if these easy journeys will last long, but what an improvement generally.
Hello from Chester-le-Street ;). Sounds good, often there's little alternative to using the A1, especially headed for the A69 or the likes of Ponteland, the tunnel isn't an option.
The A19 would only be practical if you're heading to the east of Newcastle and then you have to factor in tunnel tolls and occasional congestion at the toll gates. As you say from Chester le Street, to anything west of the city, it has to be the A1. Also Silverlink can get very congested as well so it's a Hobson's Choice.
Actually when travelling from the west of Newcastle to the airport, I completely avoid the A1/A696 route and go through Ponteland, which is no longer signposted from the A69 as people in Darras Hall don't want the congestion.
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wrinkly
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by wrinkly »

Two options for A1 Birtley to Coalhouse. Allerdene railway bridge to be replaced either online or to the south.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultat ... me-options
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Mark Hewitt »

Will this maintain 3 lanes from Washington services down to Coalhouse or will it still go to 2 lanes as the A194(M) departs before the A1231 joins?
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wrinkly
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by wrinkly »

I don't know but you can see (and I think I can remember) that that was once 3 lanes and reduced to 2, so presumably it could be increased back to 3 if they thought it advisable.
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jackal
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by jackal »

Related to the above, I'm a bit confused by this from the consultation document:
The existing road will be widened to provide a three lane carriageway to increase capacity.

Additional lanes will be provided between junctions to help manage traffic joining and leaving the A1 [emphasis added].

Modifications will be made to the existing structures at junction 65 (Birtley), junction 66 (Eighton Lodge) and junction 67 (Coal House) to accommodate the additional lanes
So will it be three lanes within J65, 66 and 67 or not?
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wrinkly
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by wrinkly »

Possibly D3 within junctions and D4 between junctions, as on part of the recently completed section (which indeed has D4 plus anti-CD lanes between one pair of junctions).

Or three lanes downhill and four uphill.

There's already a good deal of 3-lane carriageway within the extent of the proposed scheme, especially uphill.
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jackal
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by jackal »

You'd think the consultation would be clear about how many lanes they're adding when the entire point of the scheme is to add lanes...
wrinkly wrote:Possibly D3 within junctions and D4 between junctions, as on part of the recently completed section (which indeed has D4 plus anti-CD lanes between one pair of junctions).
I haven't been there since the works but was quite surprised to see that, according to SABRE maps, the complication of the freeflow junction has been resolved simply by leaving the mainline weaving in place. This seems at odds with TD 22/06:
5.23 When two grade separated junctions with high flows are closely spaced, potential weaving problems caused by the short length of carriageway available can be removed by the inclusion of link roads. No link should be provided between carriageways other than at the start and finish of the segregated lengths of carriageway.
The accompanying figure (5/6) also clearly shows weaving restricted to the link roads.

I appreciate that it would have been expensive to do anything better, and it does help a little by taking some traffic away from the weaving space. But as far as I know this is the only recent use of link roads that retained mainline weaving.
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Mark Hewitt »

Went through for the first time at the weekend, even though it's been open for a few months!

It's nice having the three lanes in there, the main difference being from Team Valley (Coal House) to Lobley Hill where it is proper widening, the rest of it used to have discontinuous three lanes but now it's continuous three lanes, discontinuous 4 lanes at some points, and it's great that the problem of the A184 junction and connections to Lobley Hill/Team Valley North have been addressed with seperated lanes.

There's still quite an issue with middle lane hogging, either people not moving to the new Lane 1 after Team Valley or not being sure if by being in Lane 1 they're going to get spat off at the next junction, which used to be the norm. Of course even then at the Metrocentre (and Team Valley going south) Lane 1 does drop off at the junction so everyone scuttles over to the middle lane well in advance anyway.
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Mark Hewitt »

Came back from Gateshead using the A184 and A1 at about 4.30pm. It's hardly freeflowing at the speed limit, more like 20mph, partly because it still goes to 2 lanes at Team Valley, but it's an improvement over what went before where the traffic would back up a considerable way down the A184.
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