Go-ahead has been given for widening an additional 5km of road on the A1 Western Bypass at Gateshead using £19M of savings identified in the design phase of an original scheme nearby.

Widening will now take place on 6.5km of the A1 to allow three lanes of traffic to run in each direction. The new Western Bypass improvement will extend from the Coal House junction to the Metro Centre junction rather than just between Lobley Hill and Dunston.

A new 0.5km parallel link road will also be built adjacent to the A1 for north and south bound local traffic between Lobley Hill and Gateshead Quays.

Roads Minister Robert Goodwill said: “The A1 Western Bypass is a key strategic route and the provision of parallel link roads for local traffic will ease congestion and improve journey times.”

Construction is due to start in 2014/15.

Meanwhile a milestone was reached on the A11 Fiveways to Thetford improvement project in Suffolk on Monday with the opening of a section of bypass.

One lane of the new bypass is now open in each direction from Chalk Hall Farm to just before the Thetford roundabout. Work will now begin to construct a new southbound slip road to the south of the roundabout. This work is expected to take 12 weeks.

Highways Agency project manager Geoff Chatfield said: “Although this is just a partial opening, road users and local residents will see an immediate benefit.”

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