 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Major junctions | ||||
| From | Darlington | |||
| To | Edinburgh City Bypass | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United Kingdom | |||
| Primary destinations | ||||
| Road network | ||||
| ||||
The A68 is a major road in the United Kingdom, running from Darlington in England to the A720 in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It crosses the Anglo-Scottish border at Carter Bar and is the only road to do so for some distance either way; the next major crossings are the A697 from Coldstream to Cornhill-on-Tweed in the east, and the A7 near Canonbie to the west.
The southernmost section of the A68, as it leaves Darlington, has been described as a "rustbelt". [1] In January 2022 there was a proposal to widen key roundabouts in Darlington to ease traffic flow. [2] The road crosses the A1(M) at Copshaw Hill Interchange. [3] It bypasses Bishop Auckland and runs through West Auckland, Toft Hill and Tow Law, where Durham County Council has installed a live camera so that drivers can check traffic and weather. [4] It then passes Consett and Corbridge; it used to pass through the centre of the town but since 1979 has run on a bypass to the east, crossing the River Tyne over Styford Bridge. [5] During the construction of the bypass, Roman burials, glass and coins were found, and some traces of Dere Street. [6] To return to the previous route of the A68 it is concurrent with the A69 for 2.9 miles (4.7 km), before turning off north again. The road passes through rural Northumberland, following the route of Dere Street for much of this stretch, which is considered highly scenic. [7]
The A68 crosses the Scottish border at Carter Bar, then runs through the Border towns of Jedburgh, St Boswells, Earlston and Lauder before going over Soutra Hill, passing through Pathhead and by-passing Dalkeith, before terminating at Millerhill Junction on the A720. [8] Until September 2008, the A68 passed through Dalkeith; the opening of a bypass removed large volumes of traffic from the town centre and led to a reduction in accidents. [9] The northern section is used by commuters to Edinburgh, as well as long-distance traffic. [10]
In August 2020 part of the road near Fala collapsed after heavy rain. [11] It reopened the following month. [12] [13]
Part of the A68 is a trunk road from the boundary with Midlothian to the border at Carter Bar, managed by BEAR Scotland for Transport Scotland. [14] [15] The English section as far south as the junction with the A696 to Newcastle was previously a trunk road, [16] but was detrunked in 2001 as part of the government's "New Deal for Trunk Roads in England" report published three years earlier. [17]
Along with the A696, the A68 forms an alternative route between Newcastle Upon Tyne and Edinburgh to the A1 which runs along the coast via Berwick Upon Tweed, and is the more scenic of the two. [18]
The A68 follows the Roman Dere Street north of Corbridge, crossing Hadrian's Wall, and shares its route as far as the historic camps of Habitancum and Bremenium. The area contains numerous Roman forts. [19]
The current route across Carter Bar was proposed by John Loudon McAdam in 1828. It was constructed over the following decade, and featured bridges designed by James Jardine. [20]
The A68 was the 20th most dangerous UK road in 2017. [21] In 2021, the Scottish government announced funding for safety improvements in Pathhead. [22] In England, some MPs have lobbied for similar safety improvements along the road. [23]
Midlothian is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian and the Scottish Borders.
The A1 is the longest numbered road in the United Kingdom, at 397 miles (639 km). It connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It passes through or near North London, Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage, Baldock, Letchworth Garden City, Biggleswade, St Neots, Huntingdon, Peterborough, Stamford, Grantham, Newark-on-Trent, Retford, Doncaster, York, Pontefract, Wetherby, Ripon, Darlington, Durham, Sunderland, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth, Alnwick and Berwick-upon-Tweed.
The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain. Each road is given a single letter and a subsequent number. Introduced to arrange funding allocations, the numbers soon became used on maps and as a method of navigation. Two sub-schemes exist: one for motorways, and another for non-motorway roads. While some major roads form part of the International E-road network, no E-routes are signposted in the UK. Due to changes in local road designation, in some cases roads are numbered out of zone. There are also instances where road numbers in one area are also found in another location. For example the A594 is designated as the Leicester Ring Road and also allocated to a road in Cumbria.
The A7 is a major road, partly a trunk road, that connects Edinburgh in Central Scotland to Carlisle in North West England. The A7 meets the M6 motorway close to Carlisle, which connects to the English motorway network.
The A77 road is a major road in Scotland. It runs in a southwesterly direction from the city of Glasgow, past the towns of Giffnock, Newton Mearns, Kilmarnock, Prestwick, Ayr, Girvan and Stranraer to the village of Portpatrick on the Irish Sea. It passes through the council areas of Glasgow City, East Renfrewshire, East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway.
Dalkeith is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1540. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-century castle . Dalkeith has a population of 12,342 people according to the 2011 census.
The A71 is a major road in Scotland linking Edinburgh with Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. It adjoins the Livingston Bypass A899.
The Edinburgh City Bypass, designated as A720, is one of the most important trunk roads in Scotland. Circling around the south of Edinburgh, as the equivalent of a ring road for the coastal city, it links together the A1 towards north-east England, the A702 towards north-west England, the M8 through the Central Belt towards Glasgow, the A7 through south-east Scotland and north-west England as well as the A8 leading to the M9 for Stirling and the Queensferry Crossing.
Dere Street or Deere Street is a modern designation of a Roman road which ran north from Eboracum (York), crossing the Stanegate at Corbridge and continuing beyond into what is now Scotland, later at least as far as the Antonine Wall. Portions of its route are still followed by modern roads, including the A1(M), the B6275 road through Piercebridge, where Dere Street crosses the River Tees, and the A68 north of Corbridge in Northumberland.
The Waverley Route was a railway line that ran south from Edinburgh, through Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, to Carlisle. The line was built by the North British Railway; the stretch from Edinburgh to Hawick opened in 1849 and the remainder to Carlisle opened in 1862. The line was nicknamed after the immensely popular Waverley Novels, written by Sir Walter Scott.
Edinburgh is a major transport hub in east central Scotland and is at the centre of a multi-modal transport network with road, rail and air communications connecting the city with the rest of Scotland and internationally.
The Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway was a railway company that built an east-west railway on the southern margin of Edinburgh, Scotland, primarily to facilitate the operation of heavy goods and mineral traffic across the city. The line opened in 1884. Although its route was rural at the time, suburban development quickly caught up and passenger carryings on the line were buoyant; the passenger service operated on a circular basis through Edinburgh Waverley railway station.
Pathhead village is a conservation area in Midlothian, Scotland.
Fala is a hamlet in the south-eastern corner of Midlothian, Scotland, and about 15 miles from Edinburgh.
Lauderdale is the valley of the Leader Water in the Scottish Borders. It contains the town of Lauder, as well as Earlston. The valley is traversed from end to end by the A68 trunk road, which runs from Darlington to Edinburgh.
Edgehead is a village in Midlothian, Scotland.
Corbridge Bridge is a 17th-century stone bridge across the River Tyne at Corbridge, Northumberland, England.
Munro's of Jedburgh was a bus company, which operated local and regional bus services in the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and Scottish Borders, Scotland, as well as Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, England. The company was closed in July 2013, following a retendering exercise by Scottish Borders Council.
Sheriffhall railway station served the village of Sheriffhall, Dalkeith, Scotland, from 1844 to 1849 on the Waverley Route.
Whitehill is a village in Midlothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately 1.5 miles (2 km) south-east of Dalkeith and 8.5 miles (13.6 km) from Edinburgh. The village is situated on the northwest slope of the Mayfield-Tranent ridge which spans the border between Midlothian and East Lothian. Both road entrances to the village offer magnificent panoramic views over Edinburgh, the Firth of Forth and the Pentland Hills.
A roads in Zone 6 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
|    | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
