The A1 and A1(M) - Dualling North of Newcastle and completing the Motorway from the South

[BMS100]

Originally Posted by WilfBurnsFan

Dishforth to Barton would fill the last non-motorway gap between Newcastle and London. Barton is where the current A1(M) starts, just south of Darlington.

Great! i can drive through Durham/North Yorkshire free of mopeds and tractors.

What is needed is a dual carriageway north of Morpeth. The A1 in Nothumberland is a disgrace, a road so dangerous i won't take my children on it for fear of being wiped out by some impatient fool overtaking a caravan.

[Salif]

London 826

North West 309

W Midlands 269

South East 259

E Midlands 242

Yorkshire 239

South West 237

North East 235

East 232

Add it all up, divide it equally..........£316.40 per head in each region.

[Salif]

Originally Posted by Chatton11

Yep, but the A1(M) stops at Washington doesn't it? I know it's a little pedantic...

Pretty much Newcastle & Gateshead Suburbs.

[WilfBurnsFan]

Pedantic is good.

But Washington is as near as makes no odds. The 'Tyne and Wear' sign next to the A1(M) just shy of Washington Services (or Washington-Birtley Services as we old-timers prefer to think of them) used to be one of the significant markers on my return from trips south. The series ran: crossing the Trent between juncs 24/25; entering Yorkshire just before Woodall Services (Here Be Dragons); passing Wetherby (or indeed stopping for a nosh and a cuppa at the Wetherby Whaler); Scotch Cornmer followed by crossing the Tees (Outer Home, but still got to watch them); first sight of Penshaw (Mackems aboot); the TW sign as mentioned above; and crossing the Coaly Tyne. Hyem!

[WilfBurnsFan]

You wouldn't think I was a Londoner!

[architect1976]

Originally Posted by BMS100

Great! i can drive through Durham/North Yorkshire free of mopeds and tractors.

What is needed is a dual carriageway north of Morpeth. The A1 in Nothumberland is a disgrace, a road so dangerous i won't take my children on it for fear of being wiped out by some impatient fool overtaking a caravan.

Simple answer to that, ban caravans.

[architect1976]

Originally Posted by Chatton11

Yep, but the A1(M) stops at Washington doesn't it? I know it's a little pedantic...

It used to go through the Tyne Tunnel, well the A1 at least. I can see the government re-routing the A1 back to it's old route when the second tunnel opens.

Maybe they'll re-name the Western Bypass, Team Valley car park maybe?

[maxtoon]

Originally Posted by architect1976

It used to go through the Tyne Tunnel, well the A1 at least. I can see the government re-routing the A1 back to it's old route when the second tunnel opens.

Maybe they'll re-name the Western Bypass, Team Valley car park maybe?

The A1 routing back through the Tyne Tunnel will never happen .. thankfully !!

But, the western bypass is a bloody disgrace and the biggest bottleneck on the A1 north of peterborough. I travel this route almost on a weekly basis and am fed up with the delays which run back to the washington services regularly. There were even plans to close the team Valley exit slip road at Lobley Hill during peak hours and use a tidal flow system to ease traffic congestion joining the bypass. They dicided to go with traffic signals instead .. and we all know how much success that produced

[Newcastle Historian]

Gordon Brown's response to A1 dualling
plea, causes anger
Apr 14 2010 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal


THE Prime Minister has admitted there is no way to upgrade the A1.

Gordon Brown revealed the news, which he said would surely “disappoint” many, in a letter to campaigners looking to have the single carriageway dualled in Northumberland.

As the road was once again temporarily closed yesterday following an accident, campaigners called on the Government to do more to address their concerns.

Their renewed calls have followed a letter from Mr Brown in which he says news not to look at dualling “will likely disappoint you, but I would like to confirm that the Highways Agency has carried out a number of smaller improvements to the route over the last few years which we believe have contributed to the reduction in accident numbers”.

Louise Simpson, from Fenwick in Northumberland, waited weeks for a letter from the PM after using a local radio station phone-in to challenge him to address the safety concerns.

Mr Brown, on a cabinet visit to the region in February, promised to look into the issue. His response though has left campaigners furious. Ms Simpson, a secretary, was told the region had its chance to solve the problem but failed to include a1 dualling in a regional wishlist.

Business chiefs and local councillors have repeatedly said the road could not use the funds identified by the PM because it would leave no cash for other major North East transport projects.

The PM’s signed letter added that a local study has recognised the difficulties of trying to justify the cost of dualling versus the benefits. This, Ms Simpson said, is the PM very much passing the blame when he was specifically asked what he could do to solve the problems facing motorists.

Mr Brown has “completely missed the point” on the issue of the study, she said.

“It is not about a lower level of traffic on this road, it is about the fact that this is the main road linking England to Scotland and the amount of slow-moving vehicles that use this route hold up all other traffic on a daily basis.”

Ms Simpson has now written back to the PM to tell him the difficulties thousands of drivers face on a regular basis.

She said: “As a commuter, not only do you end up crawling along at no more than 50mph for many miles on single carriageway.

“All of the impatient drivers – of which there are many – end up taking risks with other people’s lives because they are just not prepared to wait until it is safe to overtake.”

Ms Simpson said she will continue to push the issue as voters prepare to pick a new Government.

[WilfBurnsFan]

Let's hope the complacent bastards get a nasty surprise on May 6th and stop taking this place for granted.

[The Tynesiders]

Forgive my ignorance as to how road building is funded (regional v national), but how can they afford to upgrade the A1 in Yorkshire, yet it can't happen up here?

In recent years, they've redone the A1 from where the A19 link road joins it in North Yorkshire, down passed Wetherby services to where the M1 starts, all now 3 lanes. They're now in the process of upgrading the A1 from where the A19 link joins going north towards Scotch Corner into 3 lanes as well.

The above examples needed upgrading, but were already dual carriageway, surely the need to upgrade the single carriageway on this road is more pressing?

[bigchrisfgb]

The reason being is that the North East has had to of had funding for the Tyne tunnel and recently the Metro, so we don't get anymore money, though we are a region that see's less money spend on our transport per head then most of the other regions.

Techincally the Tyne tunnel is owned by a private company and is a private road, funded by the toll's which is aimed at paying off it's debt and eventually making a prfoti, and it has had to of borrwed another loan (off the government) to build the 2nd tunnel and also our funding has somehow for the region went down because of the 2nd tunnel being built, so we are in effect paying twice for the 2nd tunnel. Also you can argue that even though we have the Metro compared to other region we have a little amount of local trains running throughout our region, so even though we get the arguement saying we have the Metro it is really just a small section in our region which is really being provided.

Labour and Gordon Brown have made a big mistake in saying what they have just said, but fortunatly for them the vote Labour above anything else attitude means that they can afford to do that in this region.

[TownPlanningNE]

After being across a lot of the country this past week it's just highlighted to me even further how poor our regions road and motorway network is.

[Salif]

As I said before, the best way of bringing this issue to the front of the Governments mind would be to take direct action and blockade the M6 at the Scottish border. I realise that sounds drastic but you have to fight for what you want.

[Newcastle Historian]

.
Perhaps we should start a thread called . . . "Developments our Great, Great, Great, Great Grandchildren MIGHT see started"

The first two posts would be "HSR in Newcastle" and "Dualling of the A1 north of Newcastle" . . .


Alan Beith admits A1 dualling will take a back seat
Apr 15 2010 by William Green, The Journal


THE Liberal Democrats are not supporting an immediate upgrade to the A1 through Northumberland, a party elder yesterday admitted.

Sir Alan Beith, who is fighting to keep his Berwick seat, made the admission after the Lib Dem election manifesto confirmed the party wants switch road funding to the railways.

Under the plans, only existing road projects would be continued – ruling out a full upgrade of the A1 through the county.

Sir Alan said the Lib Dem manifesto was an indication of the seriousness of the problems facing the country, while recognising key priorities.

Northumberland would get an extra £15m for education to address chronic underfunding, he said.

On fully dualling the A1, Sir Alan said: “It is a very long-standing policy to shift investment from road to rail, but the party has always recognised that the A1 is unfinished business.

“But no party is making a promise to immediately dual the A1, but I shall make sure that it remains on our agenda.”

[Salif]

If they spend money on increasing the loading gauge on our railways and creating a lorry piggy back rail services then that might work.

[Newcastle Historian]

My QUESTION is . . . Do we (CAN we) actually "believe" this???


Tories pledge to end motorists' misery and dual A1
Apr 29 2010 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal



THE A1 would be made a route of national importance if the Conservatives form the next Government.

In a move which will open the way for the route to be fully dualled, the Tories have promised to end the A1’s status as merely a road of regional importance.

Cash to dual the A1, estimated to be more than £400m, was effectively denied to the North East by a Government policy which made the route a regional priority to be paid for without help from national spending pots.

That move has always meant the region could not pay for dualling as it would use up the North East’s entire funding stream.

Last night Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Tory candidate for the Berwick seat, who has led a three-year campaign to see the road dualled, welcomed the decision.

She said the policy shift meant “we can finally compete on a level playing field” with other national projects


FULL 'THREE PAGE' ARTICLE HERE - http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-e...1634-26339513/

[bigchrisfgb]

I know that duelling the A1 is the key policy in Anne-Marie Trevelyan's campaign for the Berwick seat. She has talked this over personally with David Cameron, who from what I hear is well aware that this must be done if he and Anne-Marie Trevelyan win on May 6th-7th.

[AngerOfTheNorth]

Not sure why they'd bother - if the Tories get in none of us up here will be able to afford cars...

[BMS100]

Ah, the old (we'll dual the A1 if elected) bullsh.t.

Will they? New labour didn't and they love us.

No chance.