Highways England to spend £600M improving roads in the North East

Highways England has today unveiled over £600M of major road improvements that will take place in the North East by 2020.

The government-owned company announced its plans at a launch event held at the Great North Museum in Newcastle earlier today and has an £11Bn budget over the next five years to invest in England’s motorways and major A roads.

Within the next five years, two major road improvements on the A1 and A19 will be completed:

The £61M A1 Coal House to Metro Centre scheme commenced in August 2014 and will see an extra lane created on a 4-mile stretch of the A1 between junction 67 Coal House, and junction 71 Metro Centre, giving three lanes in each direction. Also, a third-of-a-mile section of the A1 between junction 68 at Lobley Hill and junction 69 at Gateshead Quays will see the number of lanes increased from two to five. This will provide a link for local road users and aid traffic flow on the A1.

The £100M A19 Coast Road scheme is scheduled to start in spring 2016. The A19 gives access to Port of Tyne and to major employment areas. Highways England plans to improve the A19/A1058 Coast Road junction by upgrading the existing roundabout to a three level interchange. It is envisaged that the scheme will aid regeneration in Tyne & Wear and Northumberland, reduce congestion, increase capacity and speed up journey times at the junction.

Work will also start on four other schemes:

The £70M A19 Testos junction improvement scheme is due to commence in 2017/18 and will see a flyover constructed to take the A19 over the Testos junction. Entry and exit slip roads will connect the A19 to the new larger roundabout.

The A19 Down Hill Lane will undergo a £30M junction improvement scheme also due to start in 2017/18.

The A1 and A19 £140M technology improvements are currently undergoing scheme design, with work is set to begin in 2016.

Options are also being assessed for the A19 Norton to Wynyard road widening project. This £140 – £220M scheme will help to relieve congestion in the area.

Further to this investment, Highways England will be moving forward and delivering solutions to the feasibility study conducted for the A1 North of Newcastle. Traffic and environmental surveys and consultation with key stakeholders will start this year, with construction of the A1 North of Ellingham enhancements in advance of the dualling scheme, which is expected to start in 2018.

Work on the development of three future schemes on the A1 also continues. These being the A1 Morpeth to Ellingham dualling, A1 Scotswood to North Brunton and A1 Birtley to Coal House widening.

Speaking at the launch, Highways England’s Director of Major Projects in the North, Jeremy Bloom, said: “Drivers in the North East will see significant investment in major A roads and motorways across the region over the next five years. We’re investing £600m on delivering major improvements to the North East, starting or completing 6 major road schemes and carrying out further development of further 4 major schemes.

“These schemes will bring significant benefits to the users of the Strategic Road Network in the North East. Construction will, of course, bring some necessary disruption in the short term and we will ensure that we keep this to a minimum to keep traffic flowing”.

Highways England Yorkshire and North East Divisional Director, Vanessa Gilbert also commented: “In addition to the £600m of major improvements across the region it is vital that we continue to improve the existing road network as well, which is why across Yorkshire and the North East we will be spending £130m a year for the next 5 years on maintenance and smaller scale improvement schemes. Motorways and trunk roads form the backbone of the region’s economy and this huge investment will ensure they remain healthy for many years to come.”

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