National Highways is investigating what effect closing central reservation gaps on the A1 would have on drivers. A study into all 57 of the crossing points on the A1 between Stamford and Blyth will take place.

National Highways programme development manager, Ian Doust, said: “These gaps are often the main access point to villages and towns from the A1 so we are looking carefully at the purpose of each one, exploring how much the gap is used, what alternative arrangements could be put in place and evaluating the potential consequences of any proposal to close any of those gaps. The study is still in its early phases so we are unable to give any specifics at this time.”

A number of crossing points on the Lincolnshire stretch of the A1 are accident hotspots, says the Newark Advertiser. They require drivers to go through a small section of central reservation and cross the opposite carriageway, where vehicles are travelling at high speed.

Although much of the A1 has a speed limit of 70mph, many drivers break the law and travel faster than that, including one vehicle which was clocked travelling at 142mph on the A1 northbound near Grantham.

Crossing points do provide direct access into a number of villages, including North Witham, Stoke Rochford, Claypole in Lincolnshire and Fernwood near Newark. Without them, drivers travelling to these villages would have to add extra miles onto their journeys.