The A690 is a road in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

running from

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

in the east through

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

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Route

Sunderland section

Throughout the Sunderland section it is known as either ''Durham Road'' or ''New Durham Road'', and is one of the major routes in and out of the city. A

single carriageway A single carriageway (British English) or Undivided highway (American English) is a road with one, two or more lanes arranged within a one carriageway with no central reservation to separate opposing flows of traffic. A single-track road has a s ...

section runs from the city centre to a large

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

at the Barnes. The road then climbs a steep hill toward High Barnes, alongside the Bede site of the

Sunderland College Sunderland College, officially City of Sunderland College, is a further education and higher education college based in Sunderland, North East England. The enrolment includes around 6,300 part-time learners and approximately 4,800 full-time stu ...

before becoming

dual carriageway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

. Beyond a set of

traffic light Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traf ...

s at the ''Prospect Hotel'', the road remains dual carriageway, but the inside lane is a 'no car lane'. (In early 2009 the ''Prospect Hotel'' was demolished to make way for a new Lidl store.) The road then climbs another hill, becoming single carriageway, with the Farringdon estate to the east and the

Thorney Close Thorney Close is a suburb of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in England. It is located on the northern edge of the A690 road, A690 (Durham Road), and borders with Grindon, Sunderland, Grindon to the north and Herrington to th ...

estate to the west. A down hill stretch leads into the East Herrington and then on toward the A19 fly-over. Just after the A19 intersection, the road once again becomes a dual carriageway with a speed limit of . Within the first mile after the A19, the road comes to a notoriously bad intersection - which is frequented by a speed camera van on the Eastbound carriageway just outside the

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. The road then runs through

Houghton-le-Spring Houghton-le-Spring ( ) is a town in the City of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, North East England which has its recorded origins in Norman times. Historically in County Durham, it is now administered as part of the Tyne and Wear county. It is s ...

, via a locally famous transport feature named ''Houghton Cut''. This huge cut through the hillside was reputedly built with the forced labour of Napoleonic prisoners of war. The road then runs out of the

City of Sunderland The City of Sunderland () is a metropolitan borough with city status in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is named after its largest settlement, Sunderland, spanning a far larger area, including nearby towns i ...

boundary and on toward the A1.

Houghton Cut

The Houghton Cut "carries the A690 over the steep and prominent

Magnesian Limestone The Magnesian Limestone is a suite of carbonate rocks in north-east England dating from the Permian period. The outcrop stretches from Nottingham northwards through Yorkshire and into County Durham where it is exposed along the coast between Ha ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...

Houghton Houghton may refer to: Places Australia * Houghton, South Australia, a town near Adelaide * Houghton Highway, the longest bridge in Australia, between Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland * Houghton Island (Queensland) Canada * Houghton Townshi ...

". In 1815,

French prisoners of war French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

blasted this cut deeper than it already was, to improve the road to Sunderland's port. It was blasted again for the same reason in the 1930s, and "the Germans are said to have helped by bombing it". From 1968 to 1970 it was widened again.

Durham section

Durham Entrance - geograph.org.uk - 726882.jpg, The A690 enters Durham Durham Dawn - geograph.org.uk - 368139.jpg, A690 in Durham Looking down on the A690 at Durham - geograph.org.uk - 991681.jpg, Looking down the A690 at Durham

References

External links

Transport in the City of Sunderland Roads in England Transport in County Durham Transport in Tyne and Wear {{England-road-stub