Having seen and witnessed Gateshead Councils love of white paint and traffic lights, coupled with the absolutely sackless road management scheme on Askew Road and earlier in the year on the flyover - it wouldn't surprise me to hear that the story regarding Durham Road is true.

Going back to the flyover being back to one-lane. I was on it 3 times last week. 
Once heading north and twice heading south. The works on there at the moment seem to relate to replacing the barriers on the central reservation, rather than anything sinister or cycle-lane related.