B6282

Road Junction near Eggleston

The B6282 is a long B-road in County Durham.

The road starts in the centre of Middleton in Teesdale, where the B6277 has to TOTSO to cross the river. The B6282 continues downstream close to the left bank of the Tees, albeit considerably higher up. It soon goes through the village of Eggleston, where it passes the end of the B6281 before meeting the B6278, where that road has to TOTSO.

There is a short multiplex east along the B6278 before the B6282 turns left to regain its number. Our road then continues east, climbing up into the hills to cross Langleydale Common and Woodland Fell to reach the village of Woodland. The road bends sharply right in the village to pass through the scattered settlement of Copley before zigzagging to cross the River Gaunless twice in quick succession. The road continues northeast across the fields to reach a T-junction on the A68.

Originally the B6282 ended here. However, by the 1970s it had been extended along the former A6073. The road thus multiplexes east along the A68 for half a mile to a T-junction, then turns left as the A68 TOTSOs right. It heads north through High Etherley before turning eastwards once more to reach the suburbs of Bishop Auckland. The B6284 is met on the near side of town before the road runs to the south of the town centre to meet the A688 at a T-junction. There is then a short multiplex north along that road to a roundabout and the B6282 turns right and heads south through South Church, now on the original line of the A6072. The road continues through Shildon to end at a roundabout on the current route of the A6072.

History

As noted above, the B6282 originally ended on the A68 at Toft Hill. The onward route into Bishop Auckland was the A6073. The 1974 OS One Inch map shows that the B6282 had been extended into Bishop Auckland, as far as Watling Road, which at the time was the A688. Although not numbered on the map, the next section through to South Church was presumably still the A6073. Then, in 1998, The A6072 was re-routed onto it's present alignment (more or less) and the former route gained the B6282 number through Shildon.