Potholes, bendy barriers and serious crashes: A year in the…

The main highway connecting Hull with the rest of the UK has been dogged by several crashes this year as efforts to improve it continue. A mounting number of accidents on the A63 and the resulting gridlock prompted three East Riding councillors to call for a review into its safety this week. The call, from Conservative councillors Julie Abraham, Richard Meredith and Pat Smith, includes asking National Highways to look into whether the speed limit should be reduced. A spokesperson for National Highways said in response that safety was the agencies top priority, adding it was trialling lower speed limits elsewhere to help with air quality. In the last year, the dual carriageway which runs from east Hull to the M62 near Goole has seen not just accidents but several separate works. Read more: Calls for urgent A63 safety and speed limit review after spate of serious crashes Sections of it have partially closed, sometimes for weeks at a time, as a result. It all comes as infrastructure around the A63 has and continues to be transformed and National Highways has said the works will make it better in the long run. A new pedestrian and cycle footbridge, lowered into place early in 2022, opened in September. The 37m-long bridge now connects Porter Street on the north side of Castle Street to St James Street in the south. It is part of a wider £355m Castle Street project which includes the building of an underpass on the stretch of the A63 at Mytongate. The works are set to be completed in 2025 and have already seen overnight closures on that stretch of the A63, with the most recent in place during October. Further works, and resulting closures, are set for the Mytongate junction. Overnight closures are set to come from Wednesday, January 11 to Monday, January 16, from 8pm to 6am between Daltry Street and Roger Millward Way. Further west, overnight closures are also set to start on Monday, January 9 until Friday, January 20 on the westbound carriageway between Western Interchange and South Cave. The works, between 8pm and 6am on weeknights, are to repair damage on the Elloughton footbridge left after it was hit by a vehicle. National Highways Project Manager Stuart Allanson said they were mindful the works would cause delays which they were sorry for and thanked drivers for their patience. What follows is a timeline of some of the major stories from the A63 this year, including road damage, crashes and works. Time Line Timeline of issues faced on A63 in last year after safety review calls February- stretch of A63 ‘littered’ with potholes A stretch of the A63 between the North and South Cave junctions was branded dangerous and an accident waiting to happen because of several potholes there. Motorist Sami Tarhuni said he popped a front tire while driving from Hessle, costing him £100 for a replacement. National Highways said in June the stretch of the A63 would be resurfaced within the year as part of a £135m effort to improve Yorkshire and North East roads. April and May- ‘abnormal load’ delays Drivers faced delays along the A63 at times in April and May when lorries carrying carrying electricity transformers travelled down it. Delays resulted because lorries carrying them could only travel at around 10mph. One lorry had to stop in the A63 so its load could be lowered to fit under a bridge. Humberside Police were on hand to help it get through but gridlock and tailbacks follows. June- car overturns Witnesses of an accident on Monday, June 13 said they saw a car fly 10ft in the air before flipping over after hitting vehicles on the A63 in Hull. Firefighters had to cut the driver out of the car after the crash, on the westbound carriageway between St Andrew’s Quay and Priory Park. Humberside Police later appealed for witnesses and said the driver had been taken to hospital for surgery on life-changing injuries. August- heat wave warps crash barriersDrivers on the A63 at the height of summer woul
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