Dual the A1 for £500m+?
Dualling will bring more danger to local roads.
Dualling of the A1 would, however, bring the considerable downsides of increased volumes of traffic both on the A1 itself (overwhelming other stretches of the road), and in places like his own ward of Bamburgh, road traffic is already a significant safety issue, with the campaign for a safer road crossing in Bamburgh gaining increasing traction, and with venues such as Bamburgh Castle attracting around 150,000 visitors a year, it brings a lot of vehicles into the historic village, making the roads busy and increasingly risky for visitors trying to enjoy the village.
Rail investment is an answer to both; get people to Belford, Bamburgh, and the surrounding area WITHOUT cars, for a fraction of the price?
There could be a solution, and a comparatively low cost one at that, which might have been overlooked; the rebuilding and reopening of Belford Railway Station.
In the above article, Cllr Thompson himself states that “Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit north Northumberland each year and a station at Belford would be in the epicentre of the tourist trade.“, so if the A1 is highly unlikely to be built in the coming years, why not get Belford Station rebuilt and opened to passengers instead?
If it is assumed that Belford railway station would cost in the ballpark of £20m (minimum of £14m in Novemeber 2024), then 25 railway stations could be delivered for the cost of dualling just 13 miles of road.
This figure is borne out by the recent opening and ongoing construction of the Northumberland Line, with 18 miles of freight line reopened to passengers, as well as six new stations expected to cost £298.5m so far, plus an extra £37.9m needed towards completion coming at a grand total of £336.4m, which is still £163.6m less than the expected cost of dualling the A1 between Morpeth and Ellingham.
For the comparatively small sum of £20m (compared to £500m+ price of dualling the A1), surely getting Belford Station rebuilt would represent a better investment for Northumberland.
As also hinted at in the article, the opening of railfreight facilities at Belford could also help to reduce HGV movements on the A1, cutting carbon emissions and reducing traffic on the A1 too.
Lets hope that Belford could be reopened far faster than 2036; two platforms adjacent to an existing passenger railway should not need a decade to be built, lets hope that 2030, or even earlier could be possible.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 