Why an A road with 'charm' has been voted UK's best

The A19 between York and Thirsk

Driving along the A19 may not seem like the most thrilling way to end a busy day at work – but many motorists disagree, as the route has been voted the country’s best A road.

The stretch in North Yorkshire starts from just outside Selby, through York, Thirsk, Easingwold, Crathorne and up to Teesside and has claimed the top spot in a recent survey by independent watchdog Transport Focus, which also looked at motorways.

In the Strategic Road Users Survey, 9,000 road users were asked to rank major roads managed by National Highways and the A19 was given the top spot with the highest overall satisfaction being at 85%.

According to Transport Focus, some of the feedback about the A19 from the survey included praise about its “clear road, decent surface, and good markings”.

'Iconic towns'

And it has even improved from last year’s overall satisfaction of 77%, and in doing so climbs six places to claim this year’s top spot.

Rob Exelby, who helps to run family business Exelby Services just outside Thirsk, said the A19 was most likely popular as there were “a lot of iconic towns and cities on the road throughout North Yorkshire and the North East”.

He said his family managed five Shell garages along the A19 and they saw around 2,000 customers a day using their facilities, so the A road helped bring a lot of business.

He added the only downside was there were a lot of accidents and traffic queues, although “they are dealt with quickly”.

The A19 Tees Viaduct carries in excess of 100,000 vehicles per day

Top 10 motorways and major ‘A’ roads:

• A19  (Doncaster to Seaton Burn)

• M40 (London to Oxford)

• M4 (London to south Wales)

• M5  (Birmingham to Exeter)

• A1(M) (Sections between London and Edinburgh)

• A38 (Bodmin to Mansfield)

• A46 (Bath to Cleethorpes)

• M56 (Manchester to Dunkirk, Cheshire)

• A30 (London to Land's End)

• M3 (Sunbury-on-Thames to Chilworth)

Source: Transport Focus

Meanwhile, Will Yarrow, the owner of Yorkshire Haulage, was surprised that particular A road was voted the best, as he said he thought it was “manic”.

“There’s always a lot of traffic, which slows everything down, but it is just something we’ve had to get used to over the years,” he said.

York Civic Trust said the A19 “directly connects three places with important Roman origins; Newcastle, York and Doncaster”.

A spokesperson said: “But the A19, as a 124-mile road, is actually quite new, and much younger than its big brother, the A1, that it runs parallel with, and was part of the historic Great North Road.

The A19 was praised for its "clear road, decent surface, and good markings” in the survey

'The other road'

“Maybe its status as the 'other' north road is part of the A19's charm. And being a less well-known road to drivers can be an advantage, as many view it as less busy and with fewer traffic jams than the A1(M).”

However, bottlenecks do occur at York and Selby, the only locations where the A19 passes through an urban area.

The Civic Trust added: “Many people probably don't realise that when they're stuck in traffic on Bootham, or on Fulford Road queuing for the Designer Outlet, they're actually still on the A19.

“It gives all the more reason for York to dual its outer ring road, in order to help remove traffic going through the heart of the city.”

Meanwhile the A12, which runs from London to Lowestoft, received the lowest level of overall satisfaction in the survey at just 55%.

It was rated poorly due to journey time and road markings at 56% and 64% respectively, but the biggest issue appeared to be about the road surface where it only scored 34%.

Alex Robertson, chief executive at Transport Focus, said the survey showed “the maintenance of motorways and major roads is more important to users than building new roads”.

He said: “With road user perceptions of road surface quality deteriorating since 2022 and declining satisfaction with journey times, National Highways must continue to focus on delivering safe, smooth journeys.”

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