Network changes - 1910s

Road Openings

Year	Number on opening	Location	County	Notes
1911	N/A	Ambergate to Ridgeway	Derbyshire	The 260 yard road connected Ridgeway to the current A610 between Ambergate and Bullbridge. When the work started in 1909 Heage Council tried to fund the road wholly by public subscription, volunteer labour and donated materials but in May 1911 had to levy a rate to finish off the road. There was controversy over the Council's attempt to close the old footpath through Thacker's Wood but it was kept open after a ratepayers poll.
1912	N/A	Stornaway to Carloway / Breasclete	Ross-shire	Pentland Road. Fully opened on 6 September 1912 by Mrs Wood. Contractor was Messrs. Ross and Mackenzie. Cost was £23,000. Work had commenced twenty years beforehand by a previous contractor but part was uncompleted. Works had been reported by the Ross-shire Journal of 19 May 1893. It had been reported in The Scotsman of 25 May 1897 that the section out of Stornoway (3.2 miles) had been completed and the western sections three parts completed..The road was graded and provided with bridges to allow a light railway to be constructed alongside once the road had been completed. Sections were numbered later A858, B8010, B8012 before becoming wholly unclassified.
1912	N/A	Yardley Hastings Bypass	Northamptonshire	Bedford Road West was opened on 27 November 1912 by S.G. Stopford Sackville, County Council Chairman. The 400 yard road bypassed the steep and twisty route through the village and was constructed by Council Labour. Later renumbered as A428.
1913	N/A	Fosse Way - Saxondale to Six Hills	Nottinghamshire	The remaining 4.5 miles of green lane had been converted to a surfaced road by September 1913. £21,000 was provided by the Road Board to the cost. The workers then moved on to improve the existing metalled roads for the remainder of the 12.5 mile section. It included widening, embankments and cuttings (to ease gradients). Later renumbered as A46 (some sections since bypassed). The section south to Leicester was still rough and narrow.
1913	N/A	Laggan Diversion	Inverness-shire	The 1 mile road was opened on 26 June 1913 by Ishbel Ellice of Invergarry. It would appear from maps to be a new alignment and crossing to the south of Loch Oich. Cost £2,000. Later numbered A82.
1913	N/A	Nottingham: Abbey Street, Dunkirk	Nottinghamshire	The road from the then Beeston Road to Gregory Street was officially opened on 5 July 1913 with a procession headed by the City Police Band. The former narrow street, just 10 feet wide in places with a hump-back bridge over the River Leen, was replaced with a 50 foot wide thoroughfare. Cost £15,000. Later numbered A453 then A6005.
1914	N/A	Barbrook - West Lyn	Devon	Riddaway Hill (Beggar's Roost Hill) Bypass. The 0.7 mile new road was reported as constructed by the North Devon Journal of 4 June 1914. It had been inspected by Devon County Council by 18 June 1914 and considered satisfactory. The average gradient was 1 in 16 and steepest section 1 in 12 so allowed an easier route for westwards traffic out of Lynmouth via Watersmead Road, Hillsford Bridge, Windy Post and West Lyn and avoiding the narrow and steep Lynmouth Hill. The OS MoT maps were not revised for this road and so it may have been numbered B3223 before later being numbered A39.
1914	N/A	Bexhill: Cooden Drive	Sussex	Opened on 11 July 1914 by Madam Dayot during a French and Belgian journalists' visit to the town. The 0.75 mile road from Wickham Avenue to Cooden Sea Lane along the line of the tramway was built to allow residential development but was envisaged as the first part of an arterial coastal road to Eastbourne. Carriageway width was 30 feet with 15 foot footpaths either side to Richmond Road, then 10 foot. Contractor was Stephen carey, cost £7,415. It was financed by the landowners, The Mayor and Mr Webb, with both the Corporation and the De La Warr Estate contributing £500. Later renumbered as B2182.
1916	N/A	King George V Bridge (Keadby)	Lincolnshire	When opened on 22 May 1916 it was the largest "Bascule" bridge in Europe. It has 3 spans: the lifting span, on the east side is 150 feet, and the 2 other spans 120 feet each. The clear widths are 26 feet for the railway and 21.5 feet for the roadway. The underside is 16 feet above high water level. The road approaches to the bridge are 180 yards long on the eastern side and 320 yards long on the western side and 25 feet wide between the fences. Later renumbered as A18 which had a dog leg on the eastern side through Burringham and Ashby before the direct road from Gunness to Scunthorpe was built.
1917	N/A	Eastham to Ellesmere Port	Cheshire	New North Road. The 3 mile road opened on 1 October 1917 and was built to allow industrial development alongside the Manchester Ship Canal. Cost was £30,000 of which £20,000 was borne by the owners of the Hooton Estate and the remaining £10,000 by the Urban Council of Ellesmere Port. It was 72 foot wide with a 28 foot carriageway. Alongside was 36 f0ot reserved for a tramway. The northern 0.8 mile has ceased to exist and the southern 0.6 mile was realigned when the M531 (later renumbered M53) was built.
1919	N/A	Seaton Carew to Port Clarence	Durham	The 5.5 mile road provided a shorter route from Hartlepool to the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge and the town, and was to open on 6 January 1919. It was initially a private road built by the Tees Conservancy Commission and was open between sunrise and sunset on payment of a toll. The works cost was £70,000 which was justified by the development of land reclaimed. Durham County Council took over the road as a public highway after agreement in early December 1919. It was numbered A178 in 1923.