A1 moves fail to convince campaigners

Jun 12 2009 by William Green, The Journal

NEW Transport Secretary Lord Adonis is facing pressure to upgrade the Western Bypass through Gateshead amid promises of “quick wins” after decades of waiting.

The call for action from Blaydon MP Dave Anderson and the North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) comes after Transport Minister Paul Clark said work on options to deal with traffic congestion on the key route was ongoing.

He also said a study was also being considered after Mr Anderson asked what steps the Transport Secretary was planning to take to cut delays on the road in a written Parliamentary question.

“The Department for Transport and the Highways Agency are continuing work on options to address traffic pressures on the A1 Western Bypass in Gateshead, including consideration of major improvements and possible “quick wins”.

“In taking this work forward the Highways Agency is also liaising with officers from both Gateshead and Newcastle councils, mindful of possible complementary measures that may be introduced following Tyne and Wear region’s earlier ‘People in Motion’ study,” said Mr Clark.

He added: “In addition a number of smaller scale operational improvements are planned including improvements to signals, road markings, signing, slip roads, safety barriers and driver information.”

Mr Anderson said: “They say they want a quick win, but we will wait forever.

“It is not good enough. What we need is joint action between the Government, local councils and the Highways Agency. They have talked about it long enough. We need real action.”

Ross Smith, head of policy at the NECC, said: “We seem to have been looking at options for quite a while now and what business wants to see is solutions.”