(17 Apr 2022, 9:35 pm)Andreos1 wrote I think it's something they've been encouraging for decades to be honest.
The original realignment of the A1 at the Angel in 86 was key. 

Couple the building of the Blaydon Bridge 30 odd years ago to remove the bottle neck at Scotswood and West Denton along with the eventual second tunnel (plus Testos and Silverlink improvements) and they have essentially created an Eastern bypass to go with western bypass. 

Throw in a load of white paint, traffic lights and the removal of pedestrian footbridges in various spots along Durham Road means only the brave and buses venture through that way now.

I agree it's been encouraged for decades, but planners must still see it as being vastly underused, when people still opt to short cut over the Tyne Bridge and central motorway for example. I think there was hope that the air quality restrictions would tackle some of this, but omitting private cars has put a bit of a spanner in the works here. Maybe it'll be dealt with when the original scheme is deemed insufficient, or maybe they'll look to tackle it in another way, e.g. congestion charging.

I'm a bit too young to remember the realignment in 86, but certainly there's been constant investment in the A1(M) between J61 at Bowburn and J80 at Seaton Burn for decades now. Then there's the projects on the A19 that you mention, plus the £265m or so that the expansion of the Tyne Tunnel cost into a second tunnel.