A1 Western bypass widening

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Paul7755
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Paul7755 »

Not sure if this deserves its own new thread, but there's a consultation published today on the proposed widening from Scotswood to North Brunton:

http://roads.highways.gov.uk/projects/a ... h-brunton/

Public exhibition brochure: https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.co ... igital.pdf

Looks like they intend starting at same times as Birtley to Coal House...

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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Mark Hewitt »

I wasn't even aware the Scotswood scheme was a thing. Does this now mean with the completion of Birtley to Coal House we will have continuous 3 lanes from Chester-le-Street to North of Newcastle?
Paul7755
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

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Mark Hewitt wrote:I wasn't even aware the Scotswood scheme was a thing. Does this now mean with the completion of Birtley to Coal House we will have continuous 3 lanes from Chester-le-Street to North of Newcastle?
Except for the Blaydon bridge and it's immediate approaches. I guess there'll still be lane drops and gains either side?
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

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Paul7755 wrote:
Mark Hewitt wrote:I wasn't even aware the Scotswood scheme was a thing. Does this now mean with the completion of Birtley to Coal House we will have continuous 3 lanes from Chester-le-Street to North of Newcastle?
Except for the Blaydon bridge and it's immediate approaches. I guess there'll still be lane drops and gains either side?
If they don't fix Blaydon bridge there isn't a massive amount of point to it as you'll still get traffic just in L2/3 and not using L1. Which is what happens at the moment anyway.
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Bryn666
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Bryn666 »

Narrow lanes; you'll be able to pretend you're in Manchester!
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Paul7755
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Paul7755 »

Where was it I read about the possibility of removing the north facing slips at Junction 73 (Consett A694)? I guess that was about diverting some proportion of local traffic back across Scotswood bridge?

A quick search didn't find anything in recent DfT literature.

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wrinkly
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

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Bryn666 wrote:Narrow lanes; you'll be able to pretend you're in Manchester!
I would imagine the lanes inside Dunston junction, Gateshead, are the narrowest on any motorway or trunk dual carriageway.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.95122 ... 312!8i6656

Though of course on the M60/M62, temporary lanes during roadworks can seem pretty permanent.
Last edited by wrinkly on Fri Jun 30, 2017 14:30, edited 1 time in total.
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

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wrinkly wrote:
Bryn666 wrote:Narrow lanes; you'll be able to pretend you're in Manchester!
I would imagine the lanes inside Dunston junction, Gateshead, are the narrowest on any motorway or trunk dual carriageway.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.95122 ... 312!8i6656

Though of course on the M60/M62, temporary lanes during roadworks can seem pretty permanent.
But driving through it isn't so bad. Everyone seems to stick to the 50mph speed limit.
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Glenn A »

I can recall the era before the A1 Western by pass was built. Where the Denton roundabout is now was a terminus for buses, which was originally the terminus for Newcastle Corporation's trolley buses, and the end of the street lights which were converted trolley bus pylons. Also where the A1 is now and the houses face on to the road was a field that stretched for over a mile that was popular with dog walkers and kids playing games.
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

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I vaguely remember going along the Gateshead bypass when it was A69 and going across the Scotswood bridge to get to what is now the A69
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

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Mark Hewitt wrote:I vaguely remember going along the Gateshead bypass when it was A69 and going across the Scotswood bridge to get to what is now the A69
I'm old enough to remember when the A69 ended at Central Station, but yes the A69 was diverted along Denton Rd and the Scotswood Bridge from 1976 to 1990. I do remember Denton Rd, which is quite steep, becoming a bottleneck in the eighties, which prompted the western by pass. ( The road had been on the cards since 1979).
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by M19 »

wrinkly wrote:
Bryn666 wrote:Narrow lanes; you'll be able to pretend you're in Manchester!
I would imagine the lanes inside Dunston junction, Gateshead, are the narrowest on any motorway or trunk dual carriageway.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.95122 ... 312!8i6656

Though of course on the M60/M62, temporary lanes during roadworks can seem pretty permanent.
Coming south under Dunston Bridge there is an awkward pinch in the inside lane to get round the bridge pier in a way which wouldn't look out of place in one of those "you had one job / engineering blunder" click bait articles. The inside edges of the carriageways are also lacking edge strip markings.
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jackal
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

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The Birtley to Coalhouse preferred route has been announced - option 1a, which puts a new railway bridge south of the existing one. The rejected option, 1b, would have replaced the existing bridge at the current location.

http://assets.highways.gov.uk/roads/roa ... se_PRA.pdf

The original consultation document says the following:
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.
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.
This seems to be ambiguous between three lanes throughout, three lanes within junctions but four lanes between them, or even three lanes between junctions but only two lanes within.

http://assets.highways.gov.uk/roads/roa ... ooklet.pdf
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Bryn666
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

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One would hope it's 3 lanes through with auxilllary lanes between.

The actual junctions themselves of course don't get a look in, and it is these conflict points that create much of the problem.
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wrinkly
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by wrinkly »

I think I said upthread when this consultation started that I think it's pretty clear that it means 3 lanes within junctions and 4 between. There's already a good deal of 3 lanes in the area.

Smithy Lane bridge, which they say will have to be replaced, plus the two most northerly of the 3 bridges at Eighton Lodge/ Angel of the North junction, are already second generation bridges, dating from when Eighton Lodge junction was reconfigured to route the main route along the bypass instead of through Gateshead town.

The description of the rejected option 1b refers to a "temporary bridge over the A1" when it probably means over the ECML.
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jackal
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by jackal »

Yes, I see I asked essentially the same question a year ago :oops:

But to expand on it a little, and as also mentioned above, the A1(M) is two lanes northbound through the A194(M) interchange. It seems very unlikely that this would gain a third lane, given the A194(M) takes the mainline. The current 2+2 split is fairly sensible, 3+1 (i.e. HGVs in lane four) would not be, nor would 3+2. So I think at least one two lane section within a junction will be retained.
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wrinkly
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

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jackal wrote:So I think at least one two lane section within a junction will be retained.
Agreed. The south end of the alterations will probably be around there or a bit further north. However I believe there were originally 3 lanes and hard shoulder northbound there when the A1(M) was first built. The remains can be seen.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.90200 ... a=!3m1!1e3
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Mark Hewitt
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Mark Hewitt »

In the morning peak the queue for the Western Bypass can often start before Chester-Le-Street! So that two lane section through the A194(M) might still prove an issue.
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jackal
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by jackal »

This video of the Scotswood to North Brunton scheme shows the southern half will be a mixture of D3 and D4, while the northern half will be D3:
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Re: A1 Western bypass widening

Post by Glenn A »

The western by pass should have been D3 from the start. I know it would have meant more demolition in the west end of Newcastle, but it would have reduced congestion on the A1 and made joining the road easier( nerve wracking to say the least). Ideally there should have been a joined up scheme where Gateshead western by pass and Newcastle western by pass were D3M and a continuation of the A1(M).
Interesting fact, until a ban was introduced on tractors, a farmer used to regularly use the western by pass to travel from his farm near Newcastle to his other farm near Gateshead. As you can imagine, the congestion was horrendous.
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