A SERIES of question and answer sessions about the Darlington Northern Link Road is taking place next week, allowing residents to have their say on plans.

The Darlington Northern Link Road is a Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) project between the A66 and A1(M) designed to reduce congestion, improve journey times and transform east-west travel across the region.

The project will link the Darlington to the rest of the Tees Valley and improve connectivity to key businesses such as Teesport, Teesworks and Teesside International Airport, with the A1(M) and beyond.

It will also establish an efficient link between Newton Aycliffe and the expanding port facilities on the River Tees.

Currently, traffic wanting to travel north on the A1 is forced to use the A167 and A1150 through built-up areas of Darlington, with HGVs passing by schools and through communities, causing delays, noise and risking accidents.

To ease these problems, a new single carriageway road has been proposed, running for 4.6miles from the Little Burdon roundabout, to a new junction with the A1(M).

The Northern Echo:

Changes were made to the proposals following the previous consultation in 2017 and views are now needed on the plans.

A series of events are taking place next week where the proposals will be presented and you will have the chance to ask questions.

The events will be online:

  • Monday 7 December 18.30-19.30 – Whinfield Road/A1150 area
  • Tuesday 8 December 12.30-13.30 – General
  • Wednesday 9 December 18.30-19.30 – Brafferton area

To register for the sessions, search Darlington Northern Link Road - Q&A sessions on Eventbrite.

There's also a virtual exhibition which can be found here: virtualengage.arup.com/darlington-northern-link-road/