Scotch Corner
Scotch Corner | |||
Location Map ( geo) | |||
The former A1 approaching Scotch Corner | |||
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Location | |||
Middleton Tyas | |||
County | |||
Yorkshire | |||
Highway Authority | |||
National Highways | |||
Junction Type | |||
Roundabout Interchange | |||
Roads Joined | |||
A1(M), A66, A6055, C6 | |||
Junctions related to the A6055 | |||
Scotch Corner is junction 53 of the A1(M). It is a link between the A1(M), A66, and A6055 in Yorkshire, close to the village of Middleton Tyas and a few miles south of Darlington.
It plays host to a hotel and a service area, but little else. Despite this it is an important primary destination signed from many miles away including from the M6 and is one of the best known junctions in the country.
The reason for its fame and the name it takes is because this is the turning point for traffic wishing to go to Scotland. Those wanting to go to Glasgow would take the A66 West, but those for Edinburgh would continue on the A1.
This was especially true before the construction of the M6 where HGV drivers would often use the A1 as far north as Scotch Corner in order to avoid having to negotiate the notorious A6 over Shap.
History
In 1922 this was a small junction on the A66 - with the A1 a couple of miles to the east. This had changed by 1924, when the A1 took the route via the junction.
The A1 in the vicinity of Scotch Corner was dualled in the 1950s. The A66 junction became an at-grade roundabout. A short distance to the south there was a separate at-grade priority junction with the A6108, with a gap in the central reservation.
In 1971 an improvement was completed, which included diverting a one-mile stretch of the A1 eastward onto its present line, building the present elongated roundabout and the two bridges which carry it, and combining the A66 and A6108 junctions into one.
The pre-1971 alignment of the A1 is clearly discernible today in aerial photographs or large-scale maps, and includes the present northbound on-slip road (on the line of the former northbound carriageway), the present lorry park (on the line of the former southbound carriageway), most of the present dualled section of the A6055, and a grassed strip to the south with hedges each side. To the north-west of the roundabout, the pre-dualling line of the A1 can also be seen.
The dualling of a section of the A66 immediately west of the junction was completed in 2007, with essentially no effect on the layout of the junction. In the same year, the six 36-year-old reinforced concrete piers of the two bridges, which were presumably in poor condition, were demolished and rebuilt in place. This perhaps indicates that the Highways Agency was content to retain the present geometry of the bridges for decades to come, even though it is incapable of accommodating a full D3M layout beneath.
Scotch Corner falls within the Leeming to Barton section of the A1, which was upgraded to D3M standard with work completing in 2018. Through this junction, the road has a lane drop, reducing to D2M as there is a large amount of turning traffic. As the 1971 diversion has always been two lane dual carriageway with hard shoulders this has meant little change under the junction itself.
The Leeming to Barton upgrade was covered by the same public inquiry as the Dishforth to Leeming section and it was originally expected that both sections would be built together. The inquiry reported in spring 2008 and recommended that Leeming-Barton be modified by the addition of further sections of parallel local access road. Construction therefore began in spring 2009 on Dishforth to Leeming only. It was stated that Leeming to Barton would follow in 2011 or 2012. By March 2010 the start of work had been put back to 2014. The completion of work in 2018 filled the last non-motorway gap between Dishforth and Newcastle.
The scheme also required the incorporation of a local access road (A6055) into the junction. This has taken the route of the A6108 at the south end of the junction, and continues to the north on the western side of the new motorway alignment.
Routes
Route | To | Notes |
The NORTH, Darlington, Newcastle | ||
The SOUTH, Wetherby, Leeds | ||
Brough, Penrith | ||
Middleton Tyas | ||
Richmond (A6108) | ||
Richmond | ||
Scotch Corner services | ||
local access road |
Layout
Links
legislation.gov.uk
- The A66 Northern Trans-Pennine Development Consent Order 2024 - DCO for M6 to Kemplay Bank, Penrith to Temple Sowerby, Temple Sowerby to Appleby, Appleby to Brough, Bowes Bypass, Cross Lanes to Rokeby, Stephen Bank to Carkin Moor, Scotch Corner
Other Links