A69 Safety Studies

The Challenge

The A69 trunk road is a Trans-Pennine route of the Strategic Road Network which links the cities of Carlisle and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The route consists of 31km of dual carriageway west of Newcastle, with the remaining 53km predominantly single carriageway. The route is managed by Road Link (A69) Ltd, a DBFO on behalf of Highways England.

SYSTRA’s Role

SYSTRA has a long and successful history of working with Road Link (A69) Ltd on a range of safety studies along the route.

SYSTRA regularly update the A69 Route Incident and Casualty Reduction Plan (ICRP). The document analyses collision data along the route, identifies collision cluster sites and proposes schemes to improve safety along the route. Many safety schemes have been designed by SYSTRA and constructed following the ICRP, including junction widening at Carlisle Golf Club, pedestrian improvements at Melkridge, junction improvements at Ovington and various signage improvement schemes.

Vehicles exceeding the speed limit along the route has been highlighted as an issue, leading to SYSTRA being commissioned to undertake a study to determine the suitability of Average Speed Enforcement Cameras (ASECs) along sections of the route. This involved the analysis of vehicle speed data, collision data, road geometry and other site-specific characteristics to determine the effectiveness of installing ASECs. This study led to the installation of ASECs along two sections of the route, which were installed in late 2019.

SYSTRA’s Road Safety team have also undertaken numerous Road Safety Audits along the route in accordance with the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges GG119.