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Transport Secretary opens £61m Gateshead road scheme

The new £61m road scheme near Gateshead was officially opened by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin today.

The scheme, part of the government’s £1bn roads investment strategy, will help tackle congestion and increase road capacity in the area, benefiting the 116,000 drivers that use the A1 every day.

The Highways England scheme covers a 4 mile stretch of the A1 from Coal House (junction 67) to Metro Centre (junction 71) and drivers are now able to use an extra lane in each direction as well as two new local link roads. Over 300 jobs have been created by the project, with 97 per cent of the construction workers required coming from the North East.

In total, 8 miles of extra lanes have been added to the A1, increasing the number of lanes in each direction from 2 to 3.

Two new parallel link roads have also been created along a third-of-a-mile stretch of the A1 between Lobley Hill and Gateshead Quays. 150,000 square metres of resurfacing has been carried out – the equivalent of 21 football pitches – and 12 miles of new kerbs have been laid, made from recycled plastic bottles.

A new footbridge has been installed over the A1 at Chiltern Gardens which is suitable for cyclists as well as pedestrians and the footpath at the eastern side of the bridge has also been upgraded. A new 600 metre cycle track has also been created crossing the footbridge and linking up with the local cycle network.

Patrick McLoughlin, Secretary of State for Transport, said: “This major upgrade to the A1 is part of the most ambitious, far-reaching road investment strategy for decades.

“It will not only benefit those who use the road every day but deliver jobs and opportunities, benefiting families across the North of England.

“Schemes like this are a crucial part of our plan to create a Northern Powerhouse, connecting our cities and towns and ensuring economic growth is spread more evenly across the UK.”