A690 road

A690
Major junctions
East end:	Sunderland 54°54′10″N 1°23′21″W / 54.9028°N 1.3893°W / 54.9028; -1.3893 (A690 road (northeastern end))
	[[Image:Motorway Left.svg|[ |x22px|link=]] 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°42′53″N 1°44′46″W / 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 climbs a steep hill toward High Barnes, alongside the Bede site of the Sunderland College before becoming dual carriageway. 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. Just after the A19 intersection, the road once again becomes a dual carriageway with a speed limit of 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). Within the first mile after the A19, 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. The road then 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.

A roads in Zone 6 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme
	A6 A60 A61 A62 A63 A64 A65 A66 A67 A68 A69
	A602 A605 A606 A607 A610 A612 A614 A616 A617 A624 A625 A628 A630 A631 A632 A635 A636 A638 A640 A642 A643 A647 A650 A657 A658 A660 A661 A666 A671 A678 A684 A685 A686 A688 A689 A690 A695 A696 A697
	A6003 A6023 A6030 A6055 A6079 A6108 A6121 A6136 A6177 A6182 A6195
List of A roads in Zone 6 List of B roads in Zone 6

Coordinates: 54°47′27″N 1°32′30″W / 54.7908°N 1.5416°W / 54.7908; -1.5416 (A690 road)