A1 in Newcastle upon Tyne

The A1 road around Gateshead and Newcastle upon Tyne after arriving from the south as the A1(M) from its origin in London, currently runs from the A1(M) terminus at Birtley.

However, the A1 has followed a number of different routes in the Newcastle area, matching road developments aimed at reducing traffic congestion.

The Great North Road and later the first incarnation of the A1 passed directly through Low Fell, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Gosforth and Wideopen before rejoining the current A1 at Seaton Burn.

[citation needed] After the opening of the Tyne Tunnel on 19 October 1967, the main route for traffic around Gateshead and Newcastle was diverted to the east.

[4] With completion of the A1(M) through County Durham in the 1970s, from 1977 onward the A1 ran as the A1(M) from Birtley past the north of Washington to the Newcastle Road / Leam Lane junction near Wardley (this section is now numbered A194(M)).