County changes direction in campaign to dual A1

23 April 2008

Northumberland County Council has accepted it can no longer use the A1’s safety record to support dualling of the whole road north to the border, but it will continue to campaign for it to promote economic growth.

The county has long supported the ‘Safelink’ campaign to complete dualling of the A1 between Morpeth and Berwick, much of which is single-carriageway and which used to have a poor safety record.

But a report to its strategic services overview and scrutiny committee says 10 years of Highways Agency investment in safety measures, and its plans to complete dualling north to Alnwick, have improved safety so significantly it can no longer be seen as a primary reason for improvement. Instead, the report says an upgrade is needed to improve connectivity between the city regions of Edinburgh and Tyne & Wear.

However, while most of the A1 is rated a trunk road of national importance, north of Seaton Burn, it is only rated as regionally important and, therefore, any improvement would have to compete with other regional schemes, such as the Morpeth northern bypass. The authority is continuing to press for a change of status for the A1 but it has conceded that a business, rather than safety, case will have to be made for dualling it.

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County changes direction in campaign to dual A1

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