Whitley Bay Roadworks: Sandringham Drive Set to Shut 12 Days

Getting around Whitley Bay runs on a short list of roads. The A1058 Coast Road into Newcastle, the A191 through Hillheads and Whitley Road, the A193 along the seafront towards Blyth, and the A19 with the Tyne Tunnel for anything south of the river.

This page tracks what is dug up, closed or changed on them right now. It also carries the evergreen facts that stay useful in between: the tunnel toll, station parking and park and ride. Every item comes from the public record, linked as we go.

The longest closure ahead: 12 days on Sandringham Drive

North Tyneside Council gave notice on 18 August that it intends to make a batch of temporary traffic orders for September (public notice, 18 August 2026). Two of them are in Whitley Bay, and one is much longer than anything else on the list.

• Sandringham Drive and Wilton Drive, from 28 September, for a period not exceeding 12 days. Sandringham Drive would close from the Earsdon Road junction to the Wilton Drive junction, and Wilton Drive from that junction to outside number 1. The work is a new 125mm water main, including a road crossing. The signed alternative runs via Earsdon Road, Marina Drive, Braemar Gardens and Sandringham Drive.
• Esplanade Lane and Esplanade Place Lane, from 16 September, for up to one day. This is a CCTV survey of the sewer, running 8am to 4pm only, and the notice says it will be a rolling closure with one section shut at a time. The alternative is via the Esplanade and nearby lanes.

Two points of care with these. First, the council says it “intends” to make the orders not less than seven days from the notice, so they are proposed rather than made. Second, the orders bite “as and when signage indicates”, so the yellow signs on the road are the real timetable.

Tynemouth and North Shields are on the same notice. In Tynemouth, Kennersdene outside 78 to 108 is proposed to close from 1 September for up to seven days for new ducting, and Edith Street Lane behind numbers 6 and 7 from 8 September for up to five days. In North Shields the list runs to six entries, including Brewhouse Bank at the Union Road junction from 22 September for up to two days, and Howard Street and Tyne Street from 16 September for up to seven days.

What is happening in the next fortnight

• Monday 24 August, overnight: the A19 Dudley Interchange northbound entry slip road and southbound exit slip road both close from 8pm to 6am for horticulture work on the Fisher Lane to Moorfarm stretch, with a diversion on the network (National Highways closure report).
• Tuesday 25 August: Percy Park Lane, Tynemouth, closed from the Percy Park junction to the rear of 10 The Drive for up to three days, to install a BT telegraph pole. Diversion via Percy Park, Grand Parade, Parkside and Abbey Drive (public notice, 24 July 2026).
• Thursday 27 August: Maple Avenue, Whitley Bay, closed between Sycamore Avenue and Chestnut Avenue for up to one day for a sewer CCTV survey, with a diversion via Chestnut Avenue, Hillheads Road and Sycamore Avenue (same notice).
• Monday 24 August, first train: the 5.37am from Tynemouth towards South Shields will start at Percy Main at 5.30am instead. It still reaches Tynemouth at 5.37am, but leaves from platform 1, not platform 2 (Travel North East).
• 24 August to 3 September: Regent Centre Metro station closes at 9pm Monday to Thursday for refurbishment, with trains running through without stopping and replacement bus 901 to South Gosforth (same source).
• Monday 31 August: Metro runs a Sunday frequency for the bank holiday. Buses also return to their normal Regent Centre stops that morning, after five weeks of diversions.

Metro line closure ends on 23 August

No trains have run between Airport and South Gosforth since Saturday 15 August, and the nine-day closure ends on Sunday 23 August. Coast trains have kept running throughout, but to a revised timetable, with replacement bus 901 covering the closed section (Travel North East).

Last departures while the revised timetable is in place are 11.41pm from St James to Longbenton and 11.56pm from South Shields to South Gosforth. Normal times resume from Monday 24 August. Our Metro times and fares page has the standard timetable, and the Metro remains the cheap answer when Beach Road is coned: parking at Whitley Bay station is free and a Pop pay-as-you-go single to Newcastle is £2.50.

The borough resurfacing programme, until 31 October

North Tyneside Council’s 2026/27 resurfacing programme is the framework behind much of the disruption this autumn. A traffic order in force from 2 August to 31 October 2026 allows full carriageway closures, with signed diversions, on a rolling list of roads (public notice, 17 July 2026):

• A191 Hillheads Road, from Beverley Road to the Marden Bridge Middle School roundabout, the roundabout itself, and on to the petrol station exit.
• A1058 Beach Road, from the Coast Road traffic lights to the cemetery corner at Preston.
• Norham Road, from Sidmouth Road to the A1058 Coast Road slip road.
• A191 Whitley Road sections through Longbenton and Benton.
• A192, from the Hartley Lane junction to Front Street, Earsdon.
• A193 Blyth Road, on the bend at the caravan park corner near St Mary’s.

The order’s wording matters. Closures happen only as and when signage goes up, section by section, not for three months solid. In practice one or two stretches are coned off at a time while the machines move through.

Gateshead Flyover: the worst stage ends this week

The Park Lane roundabout in Gateshead has been shut since 25 July for demolition work on the flyover. It reopens in the early hours of Friday 21 August, and Go North East services 53, 54, 93 and 94 return to normal after that (Travel North East). The Five Bridges roundabout reopened earlier. For coast drivers this mostly mattered on trips to the Metrocentre and the A1 south.

The Tyne Tunnel: what it costs and how to pay

The toll for a car, van or bus under 3.5 tonnes is £2.60. There are no barriers, and you have until midnight the day after you drive through to pay, online, on the app, by automated phone line (0191 574 0030) or in cash at a PayPoint shop (TT2). Forgetting is what generates the penalty letters, so regulars should open a pre-paid account, which also takes 10% off every crossing.

Station parking and park and ride

Driving to the Metro is often the fastest hybrid commute, and on the coast the parking is free (Whitley Bay, Monkseaton, Shiremoor station pages):

• Whitley Bay: 76 free spaces off Station Square at Victoria Terrace, plus four accessible bays by the taxi rank and 16 cycle-pod spaces.
• Monkseaton: 22 free spaces off Norham Road, with 20 cycle-pod spaces.
• Shiremoor: 20 free spaces off Park Lane, with 8 cycle-pod spaces.
• Northumberland Park is the nearest big paid park and ride: £1.80 a day, chargeable 6am to 5pm Monday to Saturday, free after 5pm and all day Sunday, with £24 four-week and £295 annual permits. Only the ground floor, about 25 bays, is currently open (Metro car parking).

What it means for you

• If you live off Earsdon Road, plan for late September. Twelve days is a long closure for a residential street, and Sandringham Drive is the way many people reach Marina Drive and the Whitley Lodge shops.
• Hillheads Road and Beach Road stay the ones to watch through the autumn. Both are on the resurfacing list and both are how Whitley Bay reaches the Coast Road. When the signs go up, allow ten extra minutes or take the Metro.
• Normal Metro times return on Monday 24 August, apart from that one earlier Tynemouth departure and the Regent Centre evening closures.
• Tyne Tunnel users: £2.60, pay by midnight the following day, and a pre-paid account saves 10%. Set the app up once and stop thinking about it.
• For a day out rather than a commute, the Metro connects the whole coast. Our things to do page is built around it.

Closures and dates change at short notice. The public notice portal carries the council’s traffic orders as they are made, and National Highways’ closure report and Travel North East’s updates page are the live sources on the day.

Sources

• Various North Tyneside locations, September, temporary restriction of traffic order, notice dated 18 August 2026 (Public Notice Portal)
• Various North Tyneside locations, August, temporary restriction of traffic order, notice dated 24 July 2026 (Public Notice Portal)
• North Tyneside resurfacing programme traffic order, 2 August to 31 October 2026 (Public Notice Portal)
• Travel North East: travel updates (Metro line closure to 23 August, Regent Centre closures, bank holiday service, Gateshead Flyover and bus diversions)
• National Highways: road closure report (A19 Dudley Interchange slip roads, 24 August)
• TT2: the Tyne Tunnels (toll, payment window, discount)
• Travel North East: Whitley Bay, Monkseaton and Shiremoor station pages, and Metro car parking

Last updated 19 August 2026. Works move section by section under signage, so treat the lists above as the framework and the signs on the road as the timetable.