Plans unveiled to demolish old Allerdene Bridge as part of A1 roadworks

The old Allerdene Bridge
-Credit: (Image: National Highways)


Work to demolish the former Allerdene Bridge on the A1 near Gateshead is due to begin.

The old bridge, built almost 40 years ago, carried traffic over the East Coast mainline railway and was replaced by the new Allerdene Bridge which was first opened to vehicles in September 2023.

National Highways has carried out a series of improvements along the A1 between junction 65 (Birtley) and 67 (Coal House) including increasing the number of lanes on the northbound carriageway from two to three and southbound carriageway from three to four.

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The next step of the Birtley to Coal House scheme is to demolish the old Allerdene Bridge with work starting from Saturday, October 19.

Helen Burrow, National Highways Project Manager, said: "From this weekend, we will be carrying out work every Saturday night from midnight to around 7am Sunday mornings and this will continue until spring 2025. There will also be seven periods of 24-hour working.

"The old Allerdene Bridge crosses Network Rail’s East Coast mainline and we are working closely with them to make sure this work is carried out safely and with as little disruption as possible."

Demolition work can only take place at night when trains are not running. It will start after the last train on Saturday night and finish before the first train on Sunday morning.

The work has been planned carefully and must be completed in a particular way for safety.

Helen added: "This work will be noisy and may cause some disturbance in the immediate area. This will also be the case over Christmas Day and Boxing Day when we will be carrying out 24-hour work.

"This work will be even louder than the previous weeks as we will be starting to demolish the central bridge structure."

After Christmas, National Highways will continue the demolition every Saturday night and plan a further six weekends of 24-hour working. The dates of these are below:

Demolition dates

Saturday night/Sunday morning (approximately midnight – 8am Sunday):

  • Saturday, October 19, then every Saturday until Saturday December 21

  • Saturday, January 4, then every Saturday until Saturday February 1

24-hour working:

  • Midnight on Wednesday, December 25 – 6am Friday, December 27

  • Midnight on Saturday, February 8 – 6am Monday, February 10

  • Midnight on Saturday, February 15 – 6am Monday, February 17

  • Midnight Saturday, February 22 – 6am Monday, February 24

  • 10pm Friday, February 28 – 6am Monday, March 3

  • 10pm Friday, March 7 – 6am Monday, March 10

  • 10pm Friday, March 14 – 6am Monday, March 17

Public information events

National Highways will be holding a public information drop-in session at Ravensworth Golf Club on Wednesday December 4, from 3pm to 8pm. Those interested or living in the area are encouraged to attend the session to find out more about the demolition and speak to the project team.

For further information about the project visit https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-roads/yorkshire-and-north-east/a1-birtley-to-coal-house/