Tyne and Wear HER(15239): Newcastle, Western By-pass - Details
15239
Gateshead and Newcastle
Newcastle, Western By-pass
Newcastle
NZ26SW
Transport
Road Transport Site
Road
Modern
C20
Structure
The Newcastle Western Bypass was listed in the Department of Transport's 'Policy for Roads, England 1980' to link the A69 to the A1(M) to the south. The County Council proposed an extension of the bypass to the north. The bypass was opened and the Blaydon Bridge was named by Her Majesty the Queen in December 1990. The scheme was awared to Bullen and Partners. The route was first suggested in 1936 and a corridor was reserved in the development plan for the area in 1945. Housing was built on either side of the corridor. The preferred route was announced in 1981 that linked the Great North Road near Gosforth to Scotswood Bridge. Scotswood Bridge was not in good condition and so Blaydon Bridge was built. The bypass is 11km long. It reduced traffic using the Tyne Bridge and removed much traffic from the City centre. It was designed to carry 50,000 vehicles per day. It is dual carriageway with a third lane between interchanges from Scotswood Road to Ponteland Road. Ten footbridges and subways were built to separate traffic and pedestrians. 1200 homes were noise insulated. Earth bunds and concrete screening walls, trees and shrubs reduce traffic noise. 66 houses were demolished to make way for the road. Where the road crosses the line of Hadrian's Wall, stone setts and a plaque were provided to mark the line of the Wall. The scheme cost some £88 million. The scheme was divided into five contracts. Contract 1 - Etal Lane to North Brunton. Balfour Beatty Construction Ltd. Started in August 1987. Opened to traffic in March 1990 by Robert Atkins MP, Minister for Roads and Traffic. Contract 1A - Fawdon Railway Bridge. Built by Cementation Projects Ltd. The bridge carried the new road over the Metro line at Fawdon. Contract 2 - Blaydon Bridge and Blaydon haughs Viaduct. Built by Edmund Nuttall Ltd. Commenced in November 1987. Blaydon Bridge is a five-span pre-stressed concrete structure. It was built using the balanced cantilever technique. It spans 108m over the River Tyne. The sandstone rock below the riverbed was found not to be strong enough to bear the weight of the southern main pier so mini-piles had to be drilled inside a cofferdam to strengthen the pier foundation. Blaydon Haughs Viaduct is a 17-span steel viaduct carrying the bypass over A695 Chainbridge Road and the Newcastle-Carlisle Railway. It is 530m long and the deck incorporates 2,100 tonnes of steelwork supported on 3,500 tonnes of steel H-piles. Contract 3 - Derwenthaugh to Etal Lane. Balfour Beatty Construction Ltd. Commenced in June 1988. This section includes 7 road bridges, 8 footbridges, 8 subways and over 3km of retaining walls. Old coal mine workings were found. Shallow seams were excavated and filled with compacted soil. Deeper workings were injected with cement and pulverised fuel ash grout. One mineshafts were filled and capped with reinforced concrete.
2230
6946
NZ22306946
F.A. Sims, 2009, The Motorway Achievement - Building the Network in the North East of England, pp 64-72