The Motorway Archive. A167(M), Newcastle Central Motorway East

The Motorway Archive

What is the Motorway Archive?
Work on developing the UK Motorway system, which transformed British travel, started in the mid-1950s. The Motorway Archive celebrates the engineering achievement involved in the conception, planning, design and construction of this transport network by thousands of dedicated professionals. The Archive itself is a collection of as many of the documents and artefacts, which were associated with the development, as it has been possible to find. From this wealth of material has come the story of each motorway developed in Britain over the last 50 years. This is the story of one of them.

Region: North East

A167(M). Newcastle Central Motorway East

Newcastle upon Tyne that renowned county town of Northumberland, a city port having heavy industries including shipbuilding.

In the early 1960's proposals were put forward by the City's Chief Planning Officer, for a system of motorways in central Newcastle and crossing the River Tyne to Gateshead. The motorway network ringed the central business district and included a link through the central area.

A start was made on the Newcastle Central Motorway East in 1972 as a trial Urban Motorway running from the north side of the central area eastwards to Tyne Bridge. This motorway was opened to traffic in 1975 and became part of the Great North Road, A167(M).

A downturn in the economy and policy changes in favour of public transport resulted in the plans for the completion of the system being abandoned until the late 1980's.
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The picture of Newcastle Central Motorway is reproduced by courtesy of freefoto.com