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| From | Darlington | |||
| To | Edinburgh City Bypass | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United Kingdom | |||
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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]
The A1, also known as the Great North Road, is the longest numbered road in the United Kingdom, at 410 miles (660 km). It connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The numbering system for A-roads, devised in the early 1920s, was based around patterns of roads radiating from two hubs at London and Edinburgh. The first number in the system, A1, was given to the most important part of that system: the road from London to Edinburgh, joining the two central points of the system and linking the UK's (then) two mainland capital cities. It passes through or near north London, Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage, Baldock, Letchworth Garden City, Biggleswade, Eaton Socon, Buckden, Peterborough, Stamford, Grantham, Newark-on-Trent, Retford, Doncaster, Pontefract, York, Wetherby, Ripon, Darlington, Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth, Alnwick and Berwick-upon-Tweed.
In Great Britain, there is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads. Each road is given a single letter and a subsequent number. Though this scheme was introduced merely to simplify funding allocations, it soon became used on maps and as a method of navigation. There are two sub-schemes in use: one for motorways, and another for non-motorway roads.
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.
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 Lammermuirs are a range of hills in southern Scotland, forming a natural boundary between East Lothian and the Borders. The name "Lammermuir" comes from the Old English lambra mōr, meaning "moorland of the lambs".
The A71 is a major road in Scotland linking Edinburgh with Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. It adjoins the Livingston Bypass A899.
Scotch Corner is a junction of the A1(M) and A66 trunk roads near Richmond in North Yorkshire, England. It has been described as "the modern gateway to Cumbria, the North East and Scotland", and is a primary destination signed from as far away as the M6 motorway, 50 miles away. The junction's name is derived from the fact that it is the point of divergence for traffic coming from London, the East Midlands and Yorkshire wishing to continue either to Edinburgh and eastern Scotland or to Glasgow and western Scotland.
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.
The A167 and A167(M) is a road in North East England. It is partially a trunk road and partially a motorway, where it is commonly referred to as Newcastle Central Motorway. Most of the road’s route was formerly that of the A1, until it was re-routed with the opening of the A1(M) in the 1960s.
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. It was the Romans' major route for communications and supplies to the north and to Scotland. 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.
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 capital of Scotland. The first section, the Doncaster Bypass, opened in 1961 and is one of the oldest sections of motorway in Britain. Construction of a new section of A1(M) between Leeming and Barton was completed on 29 March 2018, a year later than the anticipated opening in 2017 due to extensive archaeological excavations. Its completion linked the Barton to Washington section with the Darrington to Leeming Bar section, forming the longest A1(M) section overall and reducing the number of sections from five to four.
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 A89 is a trunk road in Scotland, United Kingdom. It runs from High Street, Glasgow to Newbridge in Edinburgh. It was once the A8, which has now been replaced, mostly by the M8.
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.
The A772 was a major A road located in Edinburgh, Scotland. The A772 was originally the A7 before a major renumbering of the roads into Edinburgh and also begins there, at a junction with the A701 in the neighbourhood of Nether Liberton. From this junction, the A772 heads south-east through Gilmerton, a suburb of Edinburgh. This part is known as Gilmerton Road and has a 30 mph speed limit. At the edge of Gilmerton, the road becomes Drum Street, where it passes The Drum, an 18th-century country house, before reverting to Gilmerton Road.
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 | ||
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