A690 road

A690 road
Major junctions
East end:	Sunderland 54.9028°N 1.3893°W / 54.9028; -1.3893 (A690 road (northeastern end))
	A1(M) motorway A1052 road A167 road A181 road A182 road A183 road A1231 road A19 road A689 road A691 road
West end:	Crook 54.7147°N 1.7461°W / 54.7147; -1.7461 (A690 road (southwestern end))
Location
Primary destinations:	Durham
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways • A and B road zones

The A690 is a road in County Durham running from Sunderland in the east through Durham to Crook.

Sunderland section

Throughout the Sunderland section it is known as either Durham Road or New Durham Road, and is one of the major routes in and out of the city. A single carriageway section runs from the city centre to a large roundabout at the Barnes. The road then becomes dual carriageway and climbs a steep hill toward High Barnes, alongside the Bede site of the City of Sunderland College. Beyond a set of traffic lights at the Prospect Hotel, the road remains dual carriageway, but the inside lane is a 'no car lane'. (In early 2009 the Prospect Hotel was demolished to make way for a new Lidl store.) The road then climbs another hill, becoming single carriageway, with the Farringdon estate to the east and the Thorney Close estate to the west. A down hill stretch leads into the East Herrington and then on toward the A19 fly-over. Past the A19, the road once again becomes a dual carriageway and runs through Houghton-le-Spring, via a locally famous transport feature named Houghton Cut. This huge cut through the hillside was reputedly built with the forced labour of Napoleonic prisoners of war. The road then runs out of the City of Sunderland boundary and on toward the A1. Just after the A19 intersection, the road comes to a notoriously bad intersection - which is frequented by a speed camera van on the Eastbound carriageway just outside the Evans Halshaw car dealership and again during the 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) section outside of the village of West Rainton.