(18 Apr 2022, 10:23 am)Andreos1 wrote I personally think the Western Bypass was done on the cheap.
Absolutely no future proofing and the inevitable short term fixes, snarl ups and lack of public transport didn't help.
Then throw in the fact that going through Low Fell, was the traditional route and is shorter in distance for the majority of users. 

The works to improve and widen it at various stages between Birtley and Westerhope will hopefully be enough going forward. But I'm not convinced.

The realignment (I say 86 - it may have been a year or so earlier) works fascinated me at the time.
The idea of switching the road direction from basically 180 degrees north/south and moving it to the left a bit (along with the other works) blew my mind.

There's even less future proofing in towns and cities, as I guess nobody foreseen the rise in popularity of the private car and ease of ownership. You've got severely limited options in town and city centre to expand highways, especially somewhere like Newcastle, which has already seen more than enough demolition for roads. 

I get the argument that the traditional route is usually shorter for most road users, but those in a private vehicle have the option to take alternative routes. Public transport generally can't, and wouldn't serve people if it did.