Encyclopedia
| A1 road (Great Britain)
Encyclopedia
|
| Tutorials | Encyclopedia | Dictionary | Directory |
|
 
A1 road (Great Britain)
The A1 is the longest numbered road in the UK at long. It connects London, the capital city of the United Kingdom, with Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. For much of its path it follows the historic Great North Road. The modern course of the A1 diverges somewhat, particularly where it passed through a town or village that has subsequently been bypassed, or where new motorway standard road has been constructed on a more direct route. Between its junctions with the M25 (near London) and A696 (near Newcastle upon Tyne) the road forms part of the unsigned Euroroute E15 which runs from Inverness to Algeciras. RouteThe A1 runs from the heart of the City of London at St. Paul's Cathedral to the centre of Scotland's capital, Edinburgh. The A1 shares its London terminus with the A40, in the City area of Central London. It then runs out of London through Islington (where Upper Street forms part of its route), up Holloway Road, through Barnet, Potters Bar, Hatfield, Welwyn, Stevenage, Baldock, Biggleswade, Sandy, St Neots and Peterborough. Continuing north, the A1 runs on modern bypasses around Stamford, Grantham, Newark-on-Trent, Retford, Bawtry, Doncaster, Knottingley, Garforth, Wetherby, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge, Scotch Corner, Darlington, Newton Aycliffe, Durham, Chester-le-Street, past the Angel of the North sculpture and the Metrocentre in Gateshead, around Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth, Alnwick, Berwick-upon-Tweed, into Scotland, past Dunbar, Haddington and Musselburgh before finally arriving in Edinburgh at the East End of Princes Street near Waverley Station at the junction of the A7, A8 and A900 roads. Origins and history
The modern A1 mainly follows the route of the Great North Road. This was a major coaching route in Britain and was used by the mail coaches between London, York and Edinburgh. It boasted of many inns used as posting stages. Some of these inns still survive.[1] The Great North Road, in part, followed the course of the Roman Ermine Street: from Alconbury as far as Colsterworth (at the A151 junction), and again in the North Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire areas - utilising part of the course of the Roman Rigg or Roman Ridge north of Doncaster. Further north the Great North Road utilised the Roman Dere Street to Boroughbridge from where it went to Northallerton and then up through Darlington and Durham. An older and alternative route to the north from London was the Old North Road. This followed the initial section of Ermine Street and joined the Great North Road at Alconbury where a prominent milestone records the respective mileages from London on both routes: 65 miles on the Old North Road and 68 by the Great North Road.[2] A traditional starting point of the Great North Road was the now demolished Hicks Hall at Smithfield in Central London. Milestones and distances in road atlases were measured from this point.[3]The route ran from Smithfield up St John Street to the Angel Islington. However, with the building of the General Post Office at St Martin's-le-Grand in 1829, coaches started using the alternative route used by the modern A1, beginning at the GPO building and following Aldersgate Street and Goswell Road before joining the old route at the Angel. The Angel was originally an inn and an important staging post on the route.[4] The Great North Road is often mentioned in English literature, for example Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. The legendary highwayman Dick Turpin's rapid flight from London to York, in less than 15 hours, on his faithful mare Black Bess, is perhaps the most famous legend of the Great North Road. Various inns that still stand along the A1 claim that Turpin ate his lunch there that night, or stopped off there for a brief respite for his horse. Harrison Ainsworth, in his famous 1834 romance Rookwood, immortalised this with a spirited account of this wonderful ride by Dick Turpin on his mare, and it is in this connection that Turpin's name has been generally remembered. Historians have frequently argued that Turpin never actually made this speedy journey, and that, as far as Turpin is concerned, the incident is pure fiction. They argue that such a ride was really made by John Nevison, known as "Swift Nick", born and raised at Wortley village near Sheffield and a well-known highwayman in the time of Charles II some 50 years before Turpin, who to establish an alibi rode from Gad's Hill (near Rochester, Kent) to York (some ) in about 15 hours. Even more unreliable evidence links various highwaymen with the Ram-Jam Inn at Stretton, in Rutland. The A1 passes a few feet from the door. Although the interior of the historic inn was lost to fire in the 1970s, a modern restaurant occupies the building now. The original Great North Road had a number of Historic Coaching Inns, including the George at Stamford and the Bell Inn at Stilton (hence Stilton cheese, which was first sold from the Inn from about 1730). Scotch Corner, in North Yorkshire, marks the point where the traffic for Glasgow and the west of Scotland divides from that for Edinburgh, as it has for hundreds of years before motor traffic. As well as a historic hotel there have been a variety of homes for the famous transport café, now subsumed as a motorway services. The road skirts the remains of Sherwood Forest, and passes the historic Catterick Garrison. The original A1 route was designated by the Ministry of Transport in 1921 The route was modified in 1927 when bypasses were built around Barnet and Hatfield In 1960 Stamford and Doncaster were bypassed, as was Retford in 1961 and St Neots in 1971. During the early 1970s immediate plans to widen the A1 along the Archway Road were abandoned after four public inquiries when, for the first time, road protesters disrupted the process rather than relying on giving evidence in an orderly manner. The scheme was finally dropped in 1990.[5] During the 1980s the Hatfield section was rebuilt in a tunnel. Recent re-routing required the moving of the memorial at Norman Cross to the Napoleonic prisoners buried there.[6] Speed cameras have been introduced on the busy single carriageway section north of Morpeth which is notorious stretch dangerous overtaking and where there is heavy tourist traffic to locations like Alnwick Castle and heavy goods vehicles serving Scotland. Most of the approaches to the roundabouts between Blyth and London have speed cameras, GATSO or TruVelo about a mile before the roundabout, so that people are doing no more than 70 when the signs announcing the junctions are visible. These are being retained or at the most relocated and recalibrated to control speeds through the roadworks as the roundabouts are bypassed. Improvements underwayA421 Great Barford BypassAn upgrade of the Black Cat Roundabout at the junction with the A421 (Bedford Road) is now complete with the Great Barford A421 bypass also finished. 2006.[7] A1 Peterborough to Blyth Grade Separated JunctionsWork began in August 2006 to replace the six roundabouts on the A1 between Blyth and the A1(M) section to Alconbury with grade separated junctions. Once complete this will provide a fully grade separated route between the Buckden roundabout (just north of St Neots and approximately north of the Black Cat roundabout) and just north of Morpeth.[8]
A1(M) Bramham to Wetherby MotorwayUpgrade of 10km of the existing road to dual 3-lane motorway standard between the current Bramham/A64 junction to north of Wetherby to meet the section of motorway began in 2006, including provision of a local access road alongside for non-motorway traffic. The scheme's public inquiry began on 18 October 2006 and the project is designed by James Poyner. Work began in May 2007 and is due for completion May 2009.[9] Proposed improvementsA1(M) Dishforth to Barton MotorwayCurrent proposals are for the upgrade of the existing dual carriageway to dual 3-lane motorway standard, with a local access road provided alongside for non-motorway traffic, between Dishforth (A1(M)/A168 junction) and Barton (start of current northernmost section of A1(M)). Work is due to start in autumn 2008 and be completed by 2011.[10] Once completed this will provide continuous motorway standard between Darrington (south of M62 junction) and Gateshead. Some have suggested the renaming of the motorway stretch from the M1/A1(M) Hook Moor junction to Gateshead to be M1 once this work has been completed meaning that the M1 would then connect London to Tyneside. Ellington to Fen Ditton schemeThere is proposed Ellington to Fen Ditton scheme associated with the A14 at Brampton Hut roundabout.[11] Other proposalsA proposal to replace the road with a parallel motorway between Stotfold and Alconbury thus giving a continuous motorway to Peterborough, was dropped as too expensive, as was a proposal to convert the motorway north of Peterborough to Grantham.[12] Plans to improve the single carriageway section of road north of Newcastle upon Tyne were shelved in 2006 as they were not considered a regional priority. The intention was to dual the road between Morpeth and Felton and between Adderstone and Belford[13]. There are now no current plans to dual the whole of the A1 route between Newcastle and Edinburgh, despite fierce campaigns in the past to make this so. Improvements to junctions near the village of Elkesley, Nottinghamshire are planned; since the 1990s this has been the only location between London and Newcastle where there is a permanent speed restriction below national speed limit, as the village's only access to the rest of the road network is via the A1.[14] Further sections of motorway upgrades are planned, which would ultimately create a single motorway running from Doncaster to Gateshead. ExpresswayIn Scotland a section of the road has been upgraded to motorway standard and classified as a Special Road, but is not designated as the A1(M). This runs from the east of Edinburgh to Dunbar. A1(M)
The A1(M) as it approaches Chester-le-Street. M25 to Stotfold
Looking southwards from junction 2. This section opened in stages:
Junctions
Alconbury to PeterboroughThis section opened in 1998. Junctions
Doncaster bypassThis section opened in 1961 and is one of the oldest sections of motorway in Britain. Junctions
Darrington to BramhamThis section opened in sections:
Junctions
Bramham to Wetherby
Wetherby Services on the A1(M). Wetherby to DishforthThis section opened in stages: Junctions
Dishforth to BartonSection to be upgraded to dual 3-lane motorway standard, work due to start in late 2008. It will include four new junctions: Due to junction numbers further north being based on older rejected plans which included more planned junctions there will not be a Junction 54 or 55. Barton to GatesheadThis section in stages:
Junctions
The A1(M) near Washington
Popular culture
See alsoReferences
External links
de:A1 (Großbritannien) hu:A1 (f?út, Nagy-Britannia) sv:A1 (Storbritannien) 
Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article 
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
top
©2008-2009 TutorGig.com. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement
