A-road
A690 traffic and collisions
The A690 is an A-road of 23.5 miles, from Durham to Sunderland. This page covers its traffic at 16 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 165m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 19,185 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 37,909 A691 to A181
- HGV share 2.4% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −2.3% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 150 19.4 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A690?
On an average day in 2025, 19,185 vehicles passed each point on the A690, counting both directions. The busiest section is A691 to A181 (Durham), with 37,909 a day; the quietest listed is A689 to B6302, with 9,006.
Busiest sections, 2025
A691 to A181 carries 2.0 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A691 to A181 Durham · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.5% | 37,909 |
| A1(M) to B1284 Durham, Sunderland · 3.4 mi · HGVs 3.4% | 30,741 |
| A182 to A19(T) Sunderland · 2.1 mi · HGVs 3.4% | 30,474 |
| B1284 to A1052 Sunderland · 0.7 mi · HGVs 3.2% | 30,085 |
| A181 to A1(M) Durham · 2.0 mi · HGVs 2.4% | 28,880 |
| A19(T) to B1405 Sunderland · 3.0 mi · HGVs 1.1% | 20,347 |
| A167 to Crossgate/Margery Lane Durham · 0.6 mi · HGVs 1.9% | 11,722 |
| A690 Silksworth Lane to A183 Sunderland · 0.7 mi · HGVs 1.3% | 10,340 |
| A689 to B6302 Durham · 8.7 mi · HGVs 1.8% | 9,006 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Durham to Sunderland · 23.5 miles
A690 traffic and collisions by section
14 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 1 short link roads and spurs (0.1 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A689 to B6302Durham | 9,006 | 30 |
| 2 | B6302 to A167Durham | 17,407 | 3 |
| 3 | A167 to Crossgate/Margery LaneDurham | 11,722 | 4 |
| 4 | Crossgate/Margery Lane to A691Durham | 13,997 | 8 |
| 5 | A691 to A181Durham | 37,909 | 9 |
| 6 | A181 to A1(M)Durham | 28,880 | 6 |
| 7 | A1(M) to B1284Durham, Sunderland | 30,741 | 18 |
| 8 | B1284 to A1052Sunderland | 30,085 | 0 |
| 9 | A1052 to A182 Hillside WaySunderland | 21,899 | 0 |
| 10 | A182 to A19(T)Sunderland | 30,474 | 7 |
| 11 | A19(T) to B1405Sunderland | 20,347 | 42 |
| 12 | B1405 to A690 mergeSunderland | 15,703 | 7 |
| 13 | A690 Silksworth Lane to A183Sunderland | 10,340 | 6 |
| 14 | A183 to A1231Sunderland | 10,859 | 4 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A690 as the first road, placed on the nearest section by their recorded position; rates (per 100 million vehicle miles) are shown for sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more.
A690 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 80.5% of the vehicle miles on the A690. HGVs account for 2.4%.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 3.9% |
| 2001 | 3.9% |
| 2002 | 4.1% |
| 2003 | 4.1% |
| 2004 | 3.9% |
| 2005 | 3.9% |
| 2006 | 3.6% |
| 2007 | 3.5% |
| 2008 | 3.4% |
| 2009 | 2.9% |
| 2010 | 3.0% |
| 2011 | 2.9% |
| 2012 | 2.7% |
| 2013 | 2.7% |
| 2014 | 2.5% |
| 2015 | 2.6% |
| 2016 | 2.6% |
| 2017 | 2.7% |
| 2018 | 2.8% |
| 2019 | 2.8% |
| 2020 | 3.0% |
| 2021 | 2.8% |
| 2022 | 2.6% |
| 2023 | 2.5% |
| 2024 | 2.5% |
| 2025 | 2.4% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A690 traffic trend
Traffic on the A690 came to 165 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 2.3% on 2019, before the pandemic, and down 1.2% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 8.1% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 142m |
| 2001 | 145m |
| 2002 | 143m |
| 2003 | 147m |
| 2004 | 151m |
| 2005 | 152m |
| 2006 | 157m |
| 2007 | 157m |
| 2008 | 154m |
| 2009 | 150m |
| 2010 | 146m |
| 2011 | 149m |
| 2012 | 153m |
| 2013 | 151m |
| 2014 | 152m |
| 2015 | 159m |
| 2016 | 163m |
| 2017 | 160m |
| 2018 | 161m |
| 2019 | 165m |
| 2020 | 124m |
| 2021 | 137m |
| 2022 | 151m |
| 2023 | 159m |
| 2024 | 162m |
| 2025 | 165m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 17,126 |
| 2001 | 17,811 |
| 2002 | 17,523 |
| 2003 | 18,114 |
| 2004 | 18,544 |
| 2005 | 18,561 |
| 2006 | 19,143 |
| 2007 | 19,088 |
| 2008 | 18,766 |
| 2009 | 18,254 |
| 2010 | 17,812 |
| 2011 | 18,184 |
| 2012 | 18,578 |
| 2013 | 18,326 |
| 2014 | 18,502 |
| 2015 | 19,061 |
| 2016 | 19,474 |
| 2017 | 19,172 |
| 2018 | 18,823 |
| 2019 | 19,360 |
| 2020 | 14,511 |
| 2021 | 16,006 |
| 2022 | 17,716 |
| 2023 | 18,555 |
| 2024 | 19,014 |
| 2025 | 19,185 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
The chart counts the whole road as it was each year, so new or renumbered stretches move it. The percentage changes compare only count points present in both years (69.8% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 2 of the 16 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A690 collisions
Police recorded 150 collisions with the A690 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 44 of them fatal or serious, including 5 fatal. That is 19.4 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.3 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Down 27.6% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | 7 |
| 2022 | 28 | 15 |
| 2023 | 17 | 8 |
| 2024 | 24 | 8 |
| 2025 | 15 | 6 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
Sections with the highest collision rates
Per 100 million vehicle miles, 2021 to 2025. Sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more collisions.
| Section | Per 100m vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| A19(T) to B1405 Sunderland · 42 collisions | 188.5 |
| A689 to B6302 Durham · 30 collisions | 21.8 |
| A1(M) to B1284 Durham, Sunderland · 18 collisions | 10.1 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 30 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A690 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 96.0% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A690
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Durham
- Sunderland
Data sources and methodology
| Figures | Source | Period | Records | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traffic counts and vehicle mix | Road traffic statistics (AADF by count point) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2000 to 2025 | 16 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 150 reported collisions | 15 September 2026 |
- Annual average daily flow (AADF) is the average number of vehicles passing a point on a typical day of the year, both directions combined.
- Vehicle miles are AADF multiplied by link length and 365, summed over every count point link on the road.
- Sections join count point links between junctions, using the link lines in DfT’s major road database.
- STATS19 covers personal injury collisions reported to the police. Damage-only collisions are not included, and not every injury collision is reported.
- Serious and slight figures are DfT’s adjusted estimates, which allow for police forces moving to injury-based reporting.
- Counts of one or two collisions below Great Britain level are shown as “fewer than 3”.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.