Meet the woman who named The Bay Gateway

The Heysham mum-of-two will forever be linked with the £140m road which opened to the public on Monday afternoon.

“I was surprised, but really happy to see my name chosen,” said Mrs Hutton, who has worked at Heysham Power Station for 27 years.

“It was funny because we were talking about the final shortlists in the office and someone said the Bay Gateway, I couldn’t believe it, I thought they were winding me up.

“It is brilliant, really exciting, it is a good legacy to pass onto the kids and the grandchildren.

“The kids are really chuffed, they have been 
telling all their friends, I am really proud to be involved.”

More than 9,000 votes were cast in the competition and among the final shortlist of names was Albert Halton Way, named after a First World War soldier. The Bay Gateway, also known as the A683, secured 49 per cent of the public vote in March, and will be used to describe the road, feature on signposts, maps, and sat navs.

“The creation of the road will provide a gateway to Heysham and the whole of Morecambe Bay, so I played about with a few ideas and came up with ‘The Bay Gateway,” said Mrs Hutton.

““We can all see how much traffic there is on the roads in the area, and there’s always a bottle-neck getting into and out of Lancaster. So this new link road will enable better journey times, it will help to reduce congestion, and it also generated employment in the area for lots of people during construction.”

The 43-year-old also took part in Saturday’s Welly Walk which saw 5,000 people walk on the road for the first time in aid of St John’s Hospice.

The Bay Gateway links the Heysham peninsula to the M6 at junction 34. The route spans 4.8km and provides better access to Morecambe.