A69 Haydon Bridge Bypass, Northumberland, United Kingdom

Haydon Bridge is a village in Northumberland, UK, which has a population of around 2,000. The village is the last community on the A69 not to have been bypassed by this very busy road. The village has two bridges crossing the River Tyne, one of which carries a single carriageway section of the A69 (a bottleneck).

Haydon Bridge is situated around 8km west of Hexham and is midway between Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Carlisle. The daily traffic flow at Haydon Bridge is about 12,000 vehicles (15% heavy goods vehicles) and the number has been increasing in line with national trends, bringing increased noise, accidents and poor air quality.

A public inquiry about the bypass was held in Haydon Bridge on the 25th and 26 April 2006. The village had been campaigning for a bypass for the past 15 years and in 2007 work finally began.

PROJECT

Construction work on the £24.7m project began in January 2007 and is due to be completed by April 2009. The Haydon Bridge Bypass will be a 2.9km (1.8 mile) long single carriageway and will include a four-span viaduct over the railway line and the south River Tyne. It will also have three other minor structures in the form of two underpasses and a bridge.

CONTRACTORS

Capita Symonds was awarded a contract as a design partner (preliminary and detailed design) for the bypass project by CVC Highway Solutions. The project is being overseen by the client the Highways Agency on behalf of the Department of Transport.

The preferred route is one south of Haydon Bridge which was chosen in December 2003 as the one with the least environmental impact. Five different routes were originally considered between 1970 and 1984.

ROUTE

The route of the bypass will start to the west of the existing A69/U8128 junction to West Rattenraw and head in a south-easterly direction over the Newcastle to Carlisle railway line and the River South Tyne. A key feature of the route is a new viaduct, designed to span across both the railway and the river.

Then in a south-easterly direction from the river, the route will cross existing farmland on an embankment and then pass over the U8049 minor road between East and West Land Ends where a new underpass will be constructed to maintain access.

The route will continue through farmland, to the south of East Land Ends Farm, and then head to the east heading towards Cemetery Road, where a new underpass will take the bypass over Cemetery Road. From Cemetery Road, the route will head in a north-easterly direction and pass over Langley Burn in Gee's Wood on a new bridge.

North east of Gee's Wood, a new junction will be constructed to provide access onto the A686 Alston Road and into Haydon Bridge village from the east end. Finally, the new route will rejoin the existing A69 near to Crossley Burn. New junctions would be formed at both ends of the scheme to maintain access to Haydon Bridge.