The A69 is a major northern trunk

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, running east–west across the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of highland, uplands mainly located in Northern England. Commonly described as the "Vertebral column, backbone of England" because of its length and position, the ra ...

, through the counties of

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

and

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

. Originally, the road started in the centre of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

then later near Birtley, but since the creation of the A1 Western Bypass around Newcastle upon Tyne, it now starts at Denton Burn, a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne. The route from the A1 junction to

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

city centre is 54 miles (87 km).

Settlements on the route

* Denton Burn *

West Denton West Denton is an area in the western part of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. Education Some of the schools in the area include: Primary: *Beech Hill Primary School *West Denton Primary School *St John Vianney RC Pr ...

Throckley Throckley is a village in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne district, in the county of Tyne and Wear, England, approximately west of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle city centre. Hadrian's Wall passed through the village, its c ...

* (

Corbridge Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, west of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Northumberland, Halton, Acomb, Northumberland, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe. Etymology Corbridge was k ...

) * (

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

) * (

Haydon Bridge Haydon Bridge is a village in Northumberland, England, which had a population of 2,184 in the 2011 census. Its most distinctive features are the two bridges crossing the River Tyne, River South Tyne: the picturesque original bridge after which ...

) *

Bardon Mill Bardon Mill is a small village in Northumberland, within the vicinity of the ancient Hadrian's Wall. It is located around from Hexham, from Carlisle, and from Newcastle upon Tyne. Nearby landmarks include Allen Banks & Staward Gorge, Syca ...

* Melkridge * (

Haltwhistle Haltwhistle is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, east of Carlisle and west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 3,811 at the 2011 Census. Haltwhistle is the closest community to Hadrian's Wall and to Northum ...

) * (

Brampton Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

) *

Warwick Bridge Warwick Bridge is a village in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of the ceremonial county of Cumbria, England. It forms part of a small urban area which includes the villages of Corby Hill and Little Corby. In 2011 it had ...

* Warwick-on-Eden * Botcherby *

Places with parentheses are indicative of historically being on the A69, but have now been bypassed

Description of the route

The road runs westwards from the A1 at Denton Burn in

through the suburbs of Denton Burn and

before a junction with the A6085 and the B6323. It continues west and passes over what was

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

, which until now has been south of the road, at Milecastle 13 on the wall. Hereafter the road is always south of the wall. The road carries on up the Tyne valley, bypassing the village of

and the market town

. The A69 crosses the River Tyne west of Hexham ( Constantius Bridge), re-crosses it west of the village of

, and yet again as it bypasses

. After crossing the border into Cumbria, the A69 by-passes the town of

, before coming to a

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types 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 junct ...

junction with the

A689 road The A689 is a road in northern England that runs east from the A595, to the west of Carlisle in Cumbria, to Hartlepool in County Durham. The road begins west of Carlisle, just outside the city at the A595. The initial stretch was recently co ...

. The A69 turns left here and travels through the village of

, which is planned to be by-passed in the future. Following a short piece of dual carriageway, the A69 comes to Junction 43 of the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...

, which skirts the eastern edge of

. The A69 into Carlisle has the name Warwick Road, and is known to be one of the most congested roads in the county. At Saint Aidan's church, the A69 turns right up Victoria Place, and meets the A7 road at a busy traffic-light controlled crossroads, where it terminates. The road forms part of the unsigned

Euroroute The international E-road network is a numbering system for roads in Europe developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The network is numbered from E1 up and its roads cross national borders. It also reaches Central ...

E18. It is maintained by RoadLink. Historical sections of road numbered A69 At its eastern end, the A69 historically ran from its current terminus with the A1 at Denton Burn eastward along Westgate Road (now the western end of the A186) in Newcastle upon Tyne, terminating at the junction between Westgate Road and Neville Street in central Newcastle near Newcastle Central station. The construction of the

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

Western Bypass saw the section of A69 from Denton Burn into central Newcastle renumbered A186, with the A69 then passing over Scotswood Bridge and following the Gateshead Western Bypass to Birtley where it joined the

A1(M) A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate motorway sections in the UK. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1, a major north–south road which connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capita ...

. The later construction of the Newcastle Western Bypass saw the Gateshead Western Bypass section renumbered A1 as the A1 was diverted to the west of Newcastle upon Tyne city centre and over the new

Blaydon Bridge Blaydon Bridge is one of the main bridges crossing the River Tyne in North East England linking Scotswood in Newcastle upon Tyne and Blaydon in Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. The bridge was designed by Bullen and Partners and built by Ed ...

, with the A69 curtailed to its current terminus at Denton Burn.

Standard of route

The A69 is a major route linking the

north-east The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

and north-west of England, and as such has primary status throughout. For about between its start at Newcastle and the Hexham by-pass the A69 is dual carriageway standard, and is largely

grade separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights ( grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...

. The rest of the route, apart from a short dual carriageway section near the M6 Junction 43 is single carriageway, with occasional climbing lanes.

Haydon Bridge bypass

Haydon Bridge was the last village on the A69 in Northumberland to gain a bypass. This was officially opened on Wednesday 25 March 2009 and passes to the south of the village with a new bridge over the River South Tyne to the west of the village.

Safety

A report on the A69 in 2011 noted that in the previous year 82 accidents were recorded with 130 injuries, 10 serious injuries and four deaths. Campaigning has been ongoing to get the section from Hexham to Carlisle dualled to allow vehicles to overtake safely.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:6-0069 Roads in Cumbria Roads in England Transport in Tyne and Wear Roads in Northumberland