A1(M) Wetherby to Walshford". Highways Agency. Archived from the original on 30 August 2008 . Retrieved 6 August 2008. a b "A14 Ellington to Fen Ditton Scheme". Highways Agency. Archived from the original on 31 January 2008 . Retrieved 20 January 2008.

The A1 is the UK's longest numbered road and probably its most famous. The numbering system for A-roads, devised in the early 1920s, was based around patterns of roads radiating from two hubs at London and Edinburgh. The first number in the system, A1, was given to the most important part of that system: the road from London to Edinburgh, joining the two central points of the system and linking the UK's (then) two mainland capital cities. Most of the English section of the A1 is a series of alternating sections of primary route, dual carriageway and motorway. From Newcastle upon Tyne to Edinburgh it is a trunk road with alternating sections of dual and single carriageway. The table below summarises the road as motorway and non-motorway sections. [18] Most of the non-motorway sections do not have junction numbers, with the exception of the Newcastle Western Bypass which continues the junction numbering of the A1(M). The Motorway Archive. Oldest, widest, longest, highest". ciht.org.uk. 2008. Archived from the original on 22 January 2010 . Retrieved 28 July 2011. Featuring a large, hand-drawn map, you can use this resource to plan a variety of fun and engaging activities.A1 Peterborough to Blyth Grade Separated Junctions Scheme". Highways Agency. Archived from the original on 10 August 2012 . Retrieved 20 January 2008. Thomas Codrington (1903). Roman Roads in Britain – Antonine Itinerary. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Archived from the original on 3 July 2011 . Retrieved 23 August 2011. {{ cite book}}: |work= ignored ( help) It was designated by the Ministry of Transport in 1921, and for much of its route it followed various branches of the historic Great North Road, the main deviation being between Boroughbridge and Darlington. The course of the A1 has changed where towns or villages have been bypassed, and where new alignments have taken a slightly different route. Several sections of the route have been upgraded to motorway standard and designated A1(M). Between the M25 (near London) and the A720 (near Edinburgh) the road is part of the unsigned Euroroute E15 from Inverness to Algeciras. The Darrington to Gateshead section was constructed between 1965 and 2018. It is 93 miles (150km), and opened in sections:

Traffic heading to Newcastle and beyond forks here and meets the A1231 moving on to Sunderland and Washington. It’s a busy interchange as it’s a widely populated area. You can also expect delays just before this junction at the Washington services to Lobley Hill in Gateshead, which is about a six-mile stretch. This section gets particularly congested with speeds averaging just 30 mph during peak hours. Some sections of the A1 have been upgraded to motorway standard. These are known as the A1(M) and include: The northern section of the upgrade, bypassing Fairburn village opened in April 2005 with a temporary connection with the A1 between Fairburn and Brotherton. The southern section, with a free-flow interchange with the M62 motorway opened on 13 January 2006.SABRE - Road Lists - The First 99 - A1". Sabre-roads.org.uk. Archived from the original on 15 November 2021 . Retrieved 15 November 2021.

A1 Dishforth to Leeming Improvement Scheme (A1 Dishforth to Barton)". Highways Agency. Archived from the original on 1 July 2010 . Retrieved 17 July 2010. You could encourage students to colour code each of the four countries within the UK and ask them to label the name and location of each capital city. From London to Sunderland, 123.33 miles (198.48km) of the route are non-motorway while the remaining 145.38 miles (233.97km) are to motorway standards. In the "Road investment strategy" announced to Parliament by the Department for Transport and Secretary of State for Transport on 1 December 2014, planning will begin to upgrade the road in South Yorkshire to raise the last non-motorway section from Red House to Darrington to motorway standard. [34] Once completed, it will provide a continuous motorway-standard road between Blyth, Nottinghamshire and Washington, Tyne and Wear and will provide the North East and Yorkshire with full motorway access to London via the M1, M62 and M18. It will also improve safety along this route, as well as creating a new corridor to the North East, and reducing congestion on the M1 around Sheffield and Leeds. This is the only missing link of motorway on the strategic M1/ M18/ A1(M) route London to Washington.

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Adams, John (1981). Transport planning, vision and practice. Routledge & K. Paul. ISBN 978-0-7100-0844-2. A 13-mile (21km) section of the road in North Yorkshire, from Walshford to Dishforth, was upgraded to motorway standard in 1995. [19] Neolithic remains and a Roman fort were discovered. Highways, National (7 May 2020). "A1(M) junction 6 to junction 8 smart motorway - National Highways". nationalhighways.co.uk . Retrieved 26 September 2023. A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate motorway sections in England. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1, a major north–south road which connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The first section, the Doncaster Bypass, opened in 1961 and is one of the oldest sections of motorway in Britain. [1] Construction of a new section of A1(M) between Leeming and Barton was completed on 29 March 2018, a year later than the anticipated opening in 2017 due to extensive archaeological excavations. Its completion linked the Barton to Washington section with the Darrington to Leeming Bar section, forming the longest A1(M) section overall and reducing the number of sections from five to four.