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Bryn666 wrote:It's just a shame the entire Teeside network wasn't designed as a motorway system from the word go - the A174, A19, and A66 are very close to being motorway standard in that area.
A66(M) extension to Stockton?
I assume it would have been if it joined the national motorway network, but as isolated section of 20 miles or so of motorway was probably more trouble that it was worth. The local plod would need motorway training, a control centre to answer the phones ...
When it was being designed and built in the 70's it was talked about as motorway, including the A66/A172 Link road aka "Lytton St" Motorway
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Johnny Mo
a) the A19 number first reached north of the Tyne?
b) a route from the vicinity of the Tyne Tunnel to Seaton Burn was first trunked?
The two dates may well be the same, of course - presumably 1960s? The Tyne Tunnel opened in 1967, so they could be then, but the tunnel itself is not trunk.
I've done a bit of a search in the London Gazette for notices connected with the trunking, but haven't found anything so far.
A lot of roads in the NE, both trunk and non-, are the result of a government plan published in 1963.
IIRC until the Western Bypass was constructed in the 90’s. The A1 was routed via the tunnel. I would expect the A19 did not go north of the Tyne until the renumbering associated with the Western Bypass. I will check some maps this evening to confirm this
“The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie" - Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
Johnny Mo
JohnnyMo wrote:IIRC until the Western Bypass was constructed in the 90’s. The A1 was routed via the tunnel. I would expect the A19 did not go north of the Tyne until the renumbering associated with the Western Bypass. I will check some maps this evening to confirm this
Correct. The current A1 from the tunnnel to the A1 was itself the A1 and of course didn't meet up with the Newcastle Western bypass as it didn't exist but met the A6125 which for it's northernmost part roughly followed the route of the present day A1.
I'm talking about before the A1 was routed through the tunnel. The tunnel was not A1 when it opened. The A1 went through Gateshead and Newcastle and over the Tyne Bridge until the late 1970s, or maybe even circa 1980.
The A194(M) was originally A194(M), then A1(M), then A194(M) again.
Edit: You may be right, though, that the present A19 didn't become A19 until 1990. I've just found an old atlas from about 1971 that shows at least part of it as A108.
So perhaps it wasn't trunked until it became part of the A1?
Last edited by wrinkly on Mon May 16, 2011 13:34, edited 1 time in total.
wrinkly wrote:I'm talking about before the A1 was routed through the tunnel. The tunnel was not A1 when it opened. The A1 went through Gateshead and Newcastle and over the Tyne Bridge until the late 1970s, or maybe even circa 1980.
.
Between 1976 and 1979 was when it was rerouted.
As far as I know the Tunnel was originally the A108.
wrinkly wrote:I'm talking about before the A1 was routed through the tunnel. The tunnel was not A1 when it opened. The A1 went through Gateshead and Newcastle and over the Tyne Bridge until the late 1970s, or maybe even circa 1980.
.
Between 1976 and 1979 was when it was rerouted.
As far as I know the Tunnel was originally the A108.
It was. This diverged from the A19 at the Seaton interchange, south of Sunderland, and the A19 carried on through Sunderland and up to South Shields. This is now the A1018, though still primary. I think this was changed in the mid-to-late 70s. A108 is now an available number again, not for the first time.
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I've found some of the notices of making the orders associated with trunking the A194(M) and diverting the London-Thurso trunk road through the Tunnel in the London Gazette in June 1979. For example here are some on the 28th.
So the answer to my original question is that there was no A19 north of the Tyne until the Western Bypass opened in 1990. I must have known that once and forgotten it.
Which still says A1 when it should have been changed to A19
It should, though by that point you're so close to the A1 that you could get away with A19 (A1), or even just (A1).
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Mark Hewitt wrote:The big problem is after you get through the tunnel the A19/A1058 Silverlink roundabout is grade seperated in completely the wrong direction (it refelects the importance of the roads when it was built). GSJ that and it won't be too bad.
Hamburger it!!!!
British & Irish cities driven in - 48/75
England - 36/52, Scotland - 7/7, Wales - 5/6, NI - 0/5, RoI - 0/5
I see Highways England have banned cyclists from using the 8 mile section of the A19 through Teeside, full details here. As a keen cyclist I think this is a good idea and I never cycle on APDC with GSJ. I fact last week I had a surprise on the A30 at Launceston at 11pm when I was confronted with a cyclist in lane 1 with no lights on.
Things to know about the A19:
A lot of it in County Durham, and about - anywhere that puts a cross next to the candidate with a red flag/rose at elections - was started around 1969. That is a good ten years later than much of the dualling of the A1 in North Yorkshire. The A19 was probably - as a result - built to a better quality than much of the dualled A1 in North Yorkshire too. Apart from anomalies like the GSJ-ed Boroughbridge bypass (one of the first to made into motorway too in the distant early-1990s), much of the A1 in North Yorkshire was dangerous. Probably the most dangerous bit in North Yorkshire is now the last to be properly GSJ-ed. The A19 in County Durham was mostly GSJ-ed - to a high standard - and this was the early 1970s, not recently. By waiting that ten years, the A19 is a much safer road, and almost motorway standard. More haste less speed.
By the time the A19 in County Durham was being built, most of the A1 had been done - Darlington was bypassed as motorway in 1965 (50 years old), and the rest of the Durham Motorway was late 1960s. More haste, less speed on that A1(M) section too.
Work started on the Tyne Tunnel on 9th October 1961.
The Gateshead Western Bypass was opened by Princess Margaret on 17th October 1974.
I would like to know about the dualled section north of the Tyne Tunnel, which is today the A19. It must have been the A108 for quite some time, then became the A1 for many years - right throughout the 1980s, and became the A19 in early 1991.
The information I have is that the contract for the dual-carriageway section north of the Tyne Tunnel was awarded to Higgs & Hill on 5th June 1968, and was for £2.25m. That would build quite a few miles of dual-carriageway in 1968. It would be around eight months after the Tyne Tunnel opened, when traffic would be building up at the end of the northern approach road to the tunnel (A108).
By the time the A19 in County Durham was being built, most of the A1 had been done - Darlington was bypassed as motorway in 1965 (50 years old), and the rest of the Durham Motorway was late 1960s. More haste, less speed on that A1(M) section too.
Work started on the Tyne Tunnel on 9th October 1961.
The Gateshead Western Bypass was opened by Princess Margaret on 17th October 1974.
I would like to know about the dualled section north of the Tyne Tunnel, which is today the A19. It must have been the A108 for quite some time, then became the A1 for many years - right throughout the 1980s, and became the A19 in early 1991.
The information I have is that the contract for the dual-carriageway section north of the Tyne Tunnel was awarded to Higgs & Hill on 5th June 1968, and was for £2.25m. That would build quite a few miles of dual-carriageway in 1968. It would be around eight months after the Tyne Tunnel opened, when traffic would be building up at the end of the northern approach road to the tunnel (A108).
The second Tyne Tunnel only opened in 2011. As I recall there was a mess of roundabouts from Leam Lane to the tunnel entrance while I recall for a while the A194(M)/A194 from Birtley to the tunnel was renamed the A1(M)/A1 as the old A1 took you through Gateshead up the Durham Road on what is now the A167.
