Central Gateshead roads - what's next

Since the closure of the A167 Gateshead Highway Flyover last December, we've put diversions in place and worked with our transport partners to manage the traffic and reduce the impact of the closure as far as possible.

However, we know that the flyover's closure has caused real disruption and some longer journeys for Gateshead residents and businesses.

We understand people want to know what will happen once the flyover has been demolished, so we want to lay out for you not only our plans for the roads, but what the removal of the flyover means for Gateshead as a whole.

We're excited by the fantastic, once in a lifetime opportunity to re-design how the centre of our town looks and works, once the physical and social barrier of the flyover is gone.

Our priority is to build new homes and create a more vibrant centre, making it a great place to live, work and visit for people of all ages.

This regeneration will change the perception of the town centre, making it fit for the future, and removing the legacy of 1960s decisions and a declining High Street.

We're looking at how we can create an improved transport network, that works better for everyone - drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and people using public transport.

That means we want a road system that will be robust and reliable for the long term, and that ensures we move the maximum number of people - by all modes - as efficiently as possible.

We recognise that linking up communities in the south of the borough with central Gateshead and the Tyne Bridge, needs to be a key priority in our planning.

We will consult with residents and businesses over the coming months to get the best possible plan in place.

There are some key factors which will influence our immediate decisions:

• our contractors have made clear that the old road beneath the flyover, between the Park Lane and Five Bridges roundabouts, will be effectively destroyed by the demolition programme, so there is no option to simply re-open that road, even in the short term
• car ownership has soared over recent decades and continues to rise (30.5m in 2014; 34m in 2024 - 11% in just 10 years) so we can't just keep building more capacity for that growth, we have to support people to use the appropriate transport modes for their journeys, so we can manage what road capacity we have as effectively as possible for essential journeys
• despite this rise, over 30% of people in Newcastle and Gateshead do not have access to a car or van - we have to be fair to everybody
• we have to work in the context that Tyneside has a problem with capacity on the bridges across the Tyne - both Newcastle and Gateshead have to manage traffic as best we can to funnel into the two main road bridges
• the biggest problem we face is junction capacity - our roads can carry traffic around Gateshead, but where two or more roads intersect, the result is congestion
• in the central area around the Park Lane roundabout, there are several unknowns on land use - the Union Electric Steel plant is to close shortly, and plans for the Priory, Park and Peareth Court flats are not finalised yet either
• without traffic coming from the south, the Park Lane roundabout only has to handle traffic from three major roads rather than four. This improves traffic flow around the junction considerably, so we have to be careful not to worsen this again.
• since the flyover was closed, many drivers who would have passed through central Gateshead on their way to somewhere else have found new routes on trunk roads, away from homes and local communities on the A167, and we want to cement that positive change in behaviour
• we want to create an environment where the majority of roads in Gateshead serve people locally, not provide through journeys for people heading elsewhere.
• we're keeping a close eye on how traffic is moving, and we're working with neighbouring councils and National Highways (who manage trunk roads like the A1 and A19) to plan for the future.
• most of the traffic crossing the river uses the A1 and A19, and the A194(M) connects those two key routes - and again, keeping traffic well away from people's homes
• the A184 Felling Bypass brings people into Gateshead from the east and to Newcastle via the Tyne Bridge; and the A184 Askew Road brings people into Gateshead from the A1 in the west - and to Newcastle via the Redheugh Bridge. Our map shows how these roads together help keep through traffic off Gateshead's roads
• it's been decades since Durham Road was used as the main A1 north-south road and the removal of the flyover is another stage in making Durham Road what it should be - a route for people in Gateshead to get around their communities, and to serve as Low Fell's high street for local residents
• our experience and data show that opening up bus lanes, or having every street open to cars, does not solve the capacity problem - it just results in overloaded junctions and gridlock

The flyover situation has enabled us to move faster on our long-term regeneration plans to improve the town centre and nearby vacant land.

It's worth noting that footfall in the town centre hasn't gone down since the flyover closed, but we also know it needs to grow, to help support businesses.

Government funding is being utilised to help us draw up the details of these schemes - which includes ensuring that it reflects how things have changed in Gateshead, what our residents think, and where our regeneration sites are located.

We're also working closely with the North East Combined Authority to make sure any new road plans fit with the wider North East Transport Plan. That's vitally important to help us secure the funding we need.

We're supporting and working closely with local businesses to improve the area, including running events, and improving public spaces. We're not trying to build more of the same - we want to learn from past events and offer something new and better connected.