Regular listeners to the news will have heard of the number of times the A1 has been closed locally due to accidents. The Redhouse to Darrington section has become a black spot incurring twice the number of incidents compared to equivalent sections on the A1(M) South. As a consequence the Highways Agency are to conduct a review of the roads feeding into the A1 over the Redhouse to Darrington area. This will involve the closure of a number of roads during the two week review to assess their effect on road safety. In particular to Burghwallis residents some of the roads involved in the review are Scorcher Hills Lane and Green Lane. It will also include the permanent closure of nine lay-bys in the area.
Click here to see the roads affected with temporary closure
More details are included in the following letter to the Parish Council:
A1T Redhouse to Darrington Temporary Side Road Closures
As the Highways Agency’s Managing Agent in the Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, we would like to inform you of upcoming full closures of various side roads off the A1T between Redhouse and Darrington
The Highways Agency are investigating options for improvements to the A1T as this section has a collision rate that is approximately double that for the A1M section to the south, despite carrying similar volumes of traffic and having the same number of lanes. It also suffers from significant congestion problems.
Our studies have shown that one of the main differences between the 2 sections is the amount of direct accesses, including lay-bys and minor side roads and bus stops all of which have poor layouts that do not comply with current standards. Movements at these locations result in a high frequency of flow interruptions which in turn contributes to mainline collisions. These flow interruptions also increase congestion and delays.
The Highways Agency are seeking to identify the likely effects of significantly reducing the number of direct accesses along the link through lay-by and minor junction closures, with a view to improving the more significant junctions that would remain open. We will be carrying out works to permanently close 9 lay-bys in this section of the A1T commencing February over a 6 month period. We will also be closing bus stops along this section at the same time.
In order to measure the impact of possible future junction closures it is proposed to carry out temporary closures. We are proposing to close a total of 8 side road junctions between Redhouse and Darrington for a period of 2 weeks commencing Monday 16th March. The ones affected in the vicinity of your property are Leys Lane, Green Lane, Scorcher Hills, Bannister Lane and New Close Lane As indicated on the attached plan. It should be noted that all roads to be closed have available alternative access to the A1T with clearly signed diversions in place.
Whilst these closures are in force it will enable traffic data to be collected and compared with similar data collected prior to closure. This will allow the effects of the closures to be accurately measured, including flow speeds and congestion along the A1 mainline, and displaced traffic on those junctions remaining open, and upon the adjoining local road network.
Every effort has been made to ensure disruption to traffic and residents are kept to a minimum, but there may be some minor inconvenience generated by these works, and for that we apologise in advance. We thank you for your continued patience.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of this scheme, or would like any further information please contact either the Highways Agency on 0300 123 5000. ha_info@highways.gsi.gov.uk.
Yours faithfully
Karen Gaunt
Customer and Community Relations Manager