'Noisy' work begins to demolish old A1 bridge

Work is under way to remove a bridge that once carried traffic on the A1 over the East Coast Mainline railway.

The old Allerdene Bridge, in Gateshead, has been replaced by a new structure that opened in September 2023.

The demolition will be carried out over a number of weekends and over Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

The work is part of a series of improvements along the A1 between junction 65 (Birtley) and 67 (Coal House), which includes increasing the number of lanes on both sides of the carriageway.

Helen Burrow, National Highways project manager, said: "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," she added.

Demolition work can only take place at night when trains are not running for safety reasons.

It will begin after the last train on Saturday night and finish before the first train on Sunday morning.

Ms Burrow says the work will be "noisy" particularly over Christmas Day and Boxing Day when they 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,” she said.

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

It will be holding a public information drop-in session at Ravensworth Golf Club on Wednesday 4 December from 1500 to 20:00 BST.

Anyone living in the area will be able to speak to one of the project team and find out more about the demolition.

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