Gateshead Flyover - Demolition dates confirmed
Demolition works around the Gateshead Flyover will finally begin next week – but the removal of the deserted highway itself will not start until 2026.
The A167 Gateshead Highway flyover has stood empty for 10 months, having been shut last December amid fears that it was at risk of collapse.
Gateshead Council has now announced long-awaited details of when the crumbling concrete structure will be torn down.
Before the flyover itself is removed, the council says that the vacant Computer House building at the south end of Gateshead High Street will be demolished first to allow engineers full access to the elevated highway.
Contractors are set to move onto a compound next to the Sunderland Road bus lane on Monday, October 20, to begin the project.
BAM Nuttall and Thompsons of Prudhoe are then expected to start demolishing the flyover early in the new year, with hopes that it will be largely gone by May 2026 and clear the way for potential regeneration works to improve the surrounding town centre.
The local authority said on Tuesday that delays to the project were down to the “complexity of the programme required” to safely remove the 900m-long structure, which runs above underground Tyne and Wear Metro tunnels.
There was travel chaos last Christmas when all Metro services across the River Tyne were suspended before the flyover could be reinforced.
Council leader Martin Gannon, who had pledged in March that the flyover would be “gone within a year”, said today: “This demolition programme will be a major step towards creating an expanded and renewed town centre, fit for the future. The removal of the flyover and some surrounding buildings will open up huge opportunities for regenerating this area, making space for the creation of a stronger community of businesses and good quality housing here.
“We appreciate that Gateshead residents, and people across Tyneside, just want to see the flyover down, and we’re all impatient for that to happen, but we hope people will appreciate that having such a complex project signed off and the legalities and finances of a detailed contract agreed in under ten months is significantly faster than normal for a large infrastructure project. We really appreciate our residents’ and businesses’ continued patience and support.”
The council said that it hopes to create “accessible public spaces, safe walkable streets, and green areas” on the plot vacated by the flyover.
While it has set aside £18 million for the demolition and North East mayor Kim McGuinness has committed £2.5 million, politicians have warned that Government cash will be needed for a long-term redevelopment.
There have been visions since 2008 of the flyover being removed for major regeneration works, but the ambitious scheme has never been funded.
The council said on Tuesday that the removal of the flyover would start with its middle section, in order for the busy Park Lane and Five Bridges roundabouts at either end of it to stay open until the latter phases of the demolition programme.
Details of road and pedestrian route closures during the demolition will be released as the work progresses and the council pledged to do “all it can to keep local residents and businesses informed, to minimise disruption to people’s everyday lives”.
Last month, the Park Lane roundabout underneath the flyover was closed for 12 hours for safety checks after a vehicle was hit by falling debris, while the council had already shut down the popular Five Bridges skate park after an inspection uncovered “significant areas” of loose concrete directly above it.
More closures of the Park Lane roundabout have now been scheduled later this week for more inspections.
It will be closed from 10pm to 6am from Thursday into Friday, October 16 and 17, and again the following night.
The Sunderland Road bus lane will shut from 11pm on Saturday, October 18, to 6am the next day and then Five Bridges roundabout will be closed from 10pm on Sunday, October 19, until 6am on the Monday morning.