Highways England have not made friends recently following their announcement that improvements to the A1 between the Team Valley and Birtley are to be delayed by a year. Everyone was expecting a start date of 2019 but Highways England have decided that with work also taking place on the A19 in Sunderland, somehow the region cannot cope with two sets of major roadworks. Well, no one likes roadworks but they are a necessity if we are to have the improvements installed. The plan for the A1 is to increase the lanes to three in each direction on a road that is currently carrying well above its planned traffic load.
Highways England's proposal is to get the A19 work out of the way and then start on the A1 improvements. In other words, they are going to spread the pain over an additional year. My fear is that when an infrastructure project slips, there is more time for the government to reconsider and cancel it.
This is not good news for Gateshead.
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