A NEW milestone in the upgrade of the A1 between Leeming and Barton has been met, as the finishing touches are made to a 2.5 mile stretch of the motorway.

Traffic will switch to the new section in early September, which sees the road curve away from Catterick Village to avoid extending the motorway onto a Roman burial site, and also keeps traffic and noise further from residents.

The new northbound section of the road will open to traffic early on Tuesday, September 6, from Sowber Hill to the new Catterick Central junction which takes road users to Catterick Garrison and Colburn.

The southbound carriageway will open later in the week, and although the stretch of road will be completed, there will still be 50mph speed restrictions and just two lanes in use to maintain consistency throughout the works site.

Highways England assistant project manager Charlotte Wright said: “This is a key milestone and once completed will allow us to access the old A1 as a working area to convert it into a local access road, along with finishing our works at Catterick South junction and demolishing old bridges.

“A total of three bridges will be demolished on the old section of the A1 – Catterick South, Tunstall and Manor House – as we move towards completing the project next year.

“It is an exciting step forward towards the end of the scheme and we think motorists will notice the quality of the road compared to the old carriageway.”