Due to essential gas works, Killingworth Road will be closed northbound from Monday 27th March for up to 5 days, and then for a longer period later in the year when the Metro bridge is due to be replaced. For those that wish to (or have to) drive the advice is to leave extra time for your journey. Below are some alternative options if you don’t need to take your car.
Coming from the north by car, there are Park and Ride sites at:
- Metro Park and Ride at Kingston Park and Northumberland Park Metro stations.
- Great Park and Ride by bus from the Great Park just off the B1318 junction from the A1.
By rail it takes between 17 and 25 minutes from Morpeth or 17 minutes from Cramlington to Newcastle Central Station, though services are currently relatively infrequent.
For destinations south of Newcastle by car it is likely to be quicker to use the A1 or A19.
For more local journeys, if you can find a route you are comfortable with, it would take about 20 minutes to cycle from pretty much anywhere within the dashed green line to the City Centre.
Nexus have a journey planner covering bus and metro travel. Alternatively Google Maps provides route options for walking, cycling and bus travel in addition to driving directions.
Live departure information for buses and the Metro is also available on the Nexus Live Map.
If you do find an alternative route that works better for you please do let us know. A study of Oyster Card data in London in showed a 2014 London Tube strike ‘brought economic benefits for workers‘ because it found that because of the disruption “it enabled a sizeable fraction of commuters to find better routes to work, and actually produced a net economic benefit due to the number of people who found more efficient ways to get to work.”
For people living in or near Garden Village, this map shows walking and cycling times to nearby Metro stations. The Metro footbridge immediately south of Salters Bridge has steep steps and no ramp so isn’t suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs.
Bus routes 18, 18A, 54, X7/X8 & X63 will be affected by the northbound lane closure as Nexus have set out below. Detailed information on bus changes can be found on the Nexus Service Status webpage.
Just cycling from Gosforth is as fast as Metro or bus, and possibly faster as you cut the waiting allowances and go door to door, plus of course it is likely that you can get past the works along access that remains for pedestrian traffic. Why wasn’t this suggested? Unfortunately at this notice there is no opportunity to suggest a local offer of a rebirth of Scratchbikes as these would be brilliant solution, and might also be an option for when parts of the Metro are closed for track renewals.
Have you reviewed the road closure order(s) These are often thoughtlessly drafted with a sole focus on motor traffic either assuming or ignoring the detail that pedestrian traffic will not make 2 mile diversion for a 200 yard closure, and will either march through the work-site or make an informal and often less safe arrangement without the legally specified arrangements for providing a pedestrian route around the work-site. Personal experience when I was arranging a bridge replacement saw the official arrangements suggesting a 6 mile diversion along an A-road and back lanes almost all of it without footways. I had to propose the pedestrian and cycling diversion (in the very middle of the village where people went under this bridge to get to the shops!)
So check out the plans for signage of the works (Chapter 8) and the arrangements for pedestrian traffic – including prams and wheelchairs, and at least 1.5m wide. Likewise for cycling, although perhaps with some parts where cyclists may have to walk. Then make sure this is delivered, as prescribed by the book.