A1085

Route

The A1085 is a largely urban A-road in north Yorkshire.

Middlesbrough - Redcar

The road starts at a roundabout on the A172 in the Middlesbrough suburb of Grovehill. It heads east and immediately crosses the Whitby Branch Line before becoming D2 at a set of traffic lights on the now-unclassified original route of the A171 and passing to the south of North Ormesby. The present A171 is crossed at another set of lights, after which the road narrows as it leaves Middlesbrough to pass a retail park. The street name is now, confusingly, Trunk Road (it isn't even primary).

A dismantled railway line is crossed before the road runs between South Bank and Eston, becoming semi-urban for this stretch. A roundabout marks the start of a simple GSJ, as we cross a bridge over the road served and enter Grangetown. The road is dual through the suburb - it was obviously once D2 but parking and a cycle lane has reduced the actual road to D1. We become genuinely D2 just before crossing the A1053 at a roundabout. This marks the boundary between residential and industrial areas.

A1085 near Dormanstown

We run northeastwards, still D2, with a steelworks on the left and chemical works on the right, although landscaping is such that neither is actually visible. A roundabout gives access to the industry, after which the road becomes D4 - and the landscaping disappears. The central reservation comes back just in time for the next roundabout, which is also industrial access but also marks the western end of the residential area of Dormanstown, which we bypass to the north. The road soon becomes S4 again, by which time we've left the heavy industry behind.

Redcar - Marske

The A1042 is met at the next set of lights, where we narrow to become mere S2. Now fully residential, we head eastwards through the suburbs of Redcar along Corporation Road. We soon reach the Saltburn Branch Line and follow it to a T-junction on the B1269, where we TOTSO left over a level crossing, then take the next turn right along Park Avenue. Both of these turns are unsignposted.

Coast Road

The coast is met at the next roundabout and we turn right past Zetland Park on the coast road, unimaginatively called Coast Road. The sea is just visible to the left across a vast expanse of grass. The right of the road remains built-up for nearly a mile before being replaced by a few fields. Presently we reach the edge of Marske and bear right to head inland, becoming lined with houses almost immediately.

The now-poorly named Coast Road soon changes its name to High Street and we cross the unclassified Redcar Road at a roundabout in the centre of town. We continue south to go back under the railway line by the station and reenter open country. The A1085 ends at the next roundabout on the A174 Marske bypass.

History

The A1085 originally ended in Redcar

The A1085 did not exist in 1922 - and indeed the majority of the road described above had not even been built then.

The number A1041 was allocated to a new-build road between Middlesbrough and Redcar, although by the time the road was opened in the late 1920s it had been given the A1085 number instead - it is the present road's route between the original line of the A172 (a few hundred yards further west than its current route) south of Middlesbrough and the A1042 on the edge of Redcar. The main road through Redcar followed a different route closer to the coast, then continued on to meet the original A174 Redcar Road in the middle of Marske; all this was numbered A1042.

By the 1950s the A1085 had been extended west to bypass Middlesbrough to the south. It ran past Albert Park (explaining why the B1272 ends on an unclassified road) to reach the A1130 (now A1032). This section was later declassified and then the original westernmost section of the A1085 was renumbered as part of a rerouted A172.

At the eastern end, road improvements in Redcar eventually took the main road out of the centre of town. Its replacement was deemed to be the A1085 rather than the A1042, thus extending the road to Marske. Construction of the A174 Marske bypass extended the road another short distance, giving the road its current route.