National Highways has announced that its £110m A1 Scotswood to North Brunton improvement scheme is now complete.
The scheme was first announced as part of the works to the A1 Newcastle Western Bypass in the Road Investment Strategy for the 2015-2020 Road Period, published by the Department for Transport (DfT) in December 2014.
Construction took two and a half years and has seen an additional lane created in each direction between junctions 74 and 79, a distance of five miles.
Under delivery partner Costain and design partner Jacobs, 15 different contractors were used and more than 1,900 people worked on the project, two-thirds of whom were from the local area.
Nick Harris and Richard Holden at the opening ceremony
National Highways chief executive Nick Harris added: 'The scheme will provide economic benefits for business users and freight, with improved links between locations of economic importance, such as Team Valley Employment Zone, Metrocentre and Newcastle Airport.'
Speaking at an opening ceremony on 10 November roads minister Richard Holden said: 'Projects like this are key to unlocking growth across the regions of the UK, as well as making everyday journeys easier for thousands of people.
'It was great to hear about the local benefits first-hand today, as I visited the road ahead of next year’s road numbering centenary.'
Although the A1 was the first road to be designated in 1921, the definitive list of major roads was published on 1 April 1923, following consultations with local authorities.
The designations came after the Ministry of Transport was formed in 1919 and was given authority to classify highways and to allocate funding for road maintenance.
Each road was given a single letter, denoting the road's category, and a subsequent number of between one and four digits.??Important routes, such as those connecting large population centres became what we know today as A-roads.
National Highways is planning a range of activities to mark the centenary of Great Britain’s road numbering scheme to classify and identify all roads in the country.
A1 Scotswood to North Brunton scheme facts, figures and factors:
- All of the traffic management has been removed from the project and the 60mph speed limit is now in force.
- All three lanes on the five-mile stretch between junctions 74 (Scotswood) and 79 (North Brunton), which carries on average 110,000 vehicles a day, are now fully open.
- A new concrete safety barrier has been installed, which will significantly reduce the risk of vehicles crossing over from one carriageway to another, improving safety.
- The lighting has also been upgraded, as has the drainage system by using a sustainable drainage pond which filters rain that runs off the carriageway, making the water flowing into the river at Ouseburn cleaner and better for the environment.
- Some 18,000 trees and shrubs have been planted along the scheme.
- Staff from National Highways, Costain, Jacobs and their sub-contractors dedicated 4,200 hours to volunteering on local community projects.
National Highways said carbon emissions were reduced on the scheme by more than 8,000 tonnes of CO2 through reusing materials wherever possible and using alternative construction methods such as:
- reusing existing sign gantries
- reducing the use of sheet piling by finding alternative solutions to creating retaining walls or barriers
- using a sustainable urban drainage system to avoid alternative water treatment
- substituting large diameter concrete drainage pipes with plastic
- reusing around 41,000 tonnes of excavated and demolition material elsewhere on the project and on other schemes.
