Route announced for £1bn Trans-Pennine dualling transformation

Major upgrades to a northern Trans-Pennine route are a step closer with the official preferred route announced for the £1bn A66 upgrade.

The confirmation reveals the list of improvements Highways England wants to now take into construction.

The A66 links the M6 at Penrith in Cumbria with the A1(M) at Scotch Corner in North Yorkshire.

As well as benefiting local people, the upgrade is intended to support tourism and freight traffic, improving connections between ports in Scotland and Northern Ireland and those in England at Hull and Felixstowe.

Highways England has also revealed that the £45m design contract for the project, put out to tender in October, has been awarded to Amey Consulting in collaboration with Arup.

Transport Secretary MP Grant Shapps said: “As we gradually reopen our society, we want to ensure communities across the North are able to benefit from smoother, safe, better connected journeys.

“Upgrading this vital national link will not only level up infrastructure in the region but will deliver benefits up and down the country – supporting tourism and movement between our key ports.”

The proposals for the A66 are the most popular options among people responding in last year’s public consultation.

Matt Townsend

Highways England’s senior project manager Matt Townsend said: “We are delighted more than 92% of people backed the idea of completing the dualling of the A66.

“The options we have revealed are the ones we want to take forward into construction, but they were also the most popular among people who responded in the consultation.

“We feel the proposals reflect ours and the Government’s vision of a Northern Trans-Pennine route fit for the rest of the century.”

As well as choosing the underpass instead of a fly-over at Kemplay Bank, Highways England is proposing the following options to bypass existing sections of the route or provide dualling alongside the existing single carriageway road:

  • A northern bypass of a three-mile section between Penrith and Temple Sowerby
  • The northern bypass option for Kirkby Thore
  • The most northerly of two options bypassing Crackenthorpe
  • Taking forward the single option to dual a five-mile section between Appleby and Brough alongside the existing section of single carriageway
  • Similarly, converting a 1.9-mile section of the route north of Bowes – the current, single carriageway Bowes bypass – into a dual carriageway
  • A bypass south of the Old Rectory between Cross Lane and Rokeby instead of a conversion which would have required demolishing buildings
  • The most northerly of three bypass options linking sections of existing dual carriageway between Stephen Bank and Carkin Moor

All the preferred options will now go into a period of further analysis, development and design before a second public consultation and scrutiny period next year.

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