A1
| A1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| A1 flag sign on Princes Street, Edinburgh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The Great North Road | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From: | London (TQ321812) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| To: | Edinburgh (NT258740) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance: | 396 miles (637.3 km) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meets: | M1, M18, M25, M62 A1(M), A14(M), A194(M) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Destinations | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Edinburgh • Gateshead • Pontefract • Newcastle upon Tyne • Peterborough • Stamford • Huntingdon • Newark-on-Trent • Grantham • Morpeth • Alnwick • Berwick-upon-Tweed • Scotch Corner • Central London • The City • Stevenage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highway Authorities | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
City of London • Edinburgh • National Highways • Islington • Transport for London • Transport Scotland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TfL Central • TfL North • HE Area 5 • HE Area 8 • HE Area 6 • HE Area 7 • HE Area 12 • HE Area 14 • TS South East TRU | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bedfordshire • Berwickshire • Cambridgeshire • Durham • East Lothian • Hertfordshire • Huntingdonshire • Lincolnshire • Middlesex • Midlothian • Northamptonshire • Northumberland • Nottinghamshire • Rutland • Yorkshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The A1 is perhaps the most significant road in the United Kingdom. Not only is it the longest, but it links the English and Scottish capitals, and is known as the Great North Road. The A1 is more than just a road, however; it is significant for having several different characteristics, from city route, to urban dual carriageway, to busy rural motorway. Indeed, the A1 is a road of many flavours.
From its creation in 1936 the London-Thurso trunk road followed the A1 from Hatfield to Edinburgh. (Variations south of Hatfield were due to the tendency in those days for road numbers to remain along bypassed roads.)
Route
London to Peterborough: from the heart of the capital to fields of the East Midlands
Peterborough to Newcastle: through the East Midlands and Yorkshire
Newcastle to Edinburgh: through the Borders and onwards to Edinburgh
Roader's Digest Entry
In the early days of SABRE a number of members got chatting late one night and started discussing duplicate numbers of roads. The discussion soon developed into an idea to write up all the roads in the country and, indeed, some early members got very carried away with the whole thing...
Markerposts
Due to the piecemeal nature of the upgrades of the A1, the system of markerposts on the route is very complicated. There are several "zero" points along the route, notably at the start in London, near Huntingdon , at Blyth Interchange (Junction 34) near Doncaster, and at Junction 56 at the start of the Durham section of motorway. More details on this can be found in an article on the Roads.org.uk website (see links at bottom of page).
Significant Improvements
Do you want to know when an A1 bypass, dual carriageway or motorway section was built? This article tables each scheme from Edinburgh to London and can be also be listed in date or location order. Includes tables for the continuous dual carriageway from Morpeth to London, early single carriageway schemes, motorway schemes and superceded sections.
Road upgrades and bypass construction has continued since the first bypass - the Ferryhill Diversion of 1923. This article gives more detail of each scheme up to 1979. These schemes, including the 1960s bypasses around market towns such as Newark, Grantham, and Stamford, have massively reduced travel times on the Great North Road and provided vital relief for traffic choked towns.
The A1(M) Bramham to Wetherby scheme was an on line upgrade of the A1 dual carriageway between junctions 44 and 46, costing £70 million. This section of the A1(M) carried 85,000 vehicles per day.
Other Pages
- A1 Improvements Timeline < Evolving Tables of Single Carriageway and Dual Carriageway improvements since 1926
- A1 Early Improvements < Evolving detail of pre 1980's improvements
- 1924 A1 Renumbering < Historical information
- A1 Named Junctions < Evolving list of all junctions
- A1 Roaders Digest Entry < Retention of the previous entry
- M100 < Reserved number by DfT for motorway upgrade from London to North Tyneside
Videos
A1 Birtley to Coal House Flythrough
2018 flythrough video showing the plans for the A1 Birtley to Coal House project.
Links
Roads.org.uk
- Birtley – Coal House
- Morpeth – Ellingham
- Road Schemes: Hemsworth A1 Link Road
- Road Schemes: Elkesley Junctions Improvement
- Road Schemes: Peterborough - Blyth
- Markerposts article, with a mention of the A1
Roads UK
Pathetic Motorways
Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation
Road opening booklets
Feasibility studies
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- 3 star articles
- Transport for London Central Area
- Transport for London North Area
- National Highways Area 5
- National Highways Area 8
- National Highways Area 6
- National Highways Area 7
- National Highways Area 12
- National Highways Area 14
- Transport Scotland South East Trunk Road Unit
- Primary Routes
- A1-A99
- Edinburgh
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- London
- English Trunk Roads
- Scottish Trunk Roads
- Trans European Network - Transport
- Top100
- Roads which meet another road of the same number but different classification