The important regional route links the M6 at Penrith in Cumbria with the A1(M) at Scotch Corner in North Yorkshire. Its planned upgrade is one of the largest projects within the Government’s second Road Investment Strategy.

The scheme will serve to improve connections between ports in Scotland and Northern Ireland and those at Hull and Felixstowe, as well as boosting links for tourism and providing relief for local people through five new bypasses.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced the preferred route during the Downing Street briefing on Saturday, describing the project as “the first new all dual carriageway across the Pennines in 50 years”.

“This is a £1Bn programme that will transform capacity by upgrading junctions and widening the road,” he said.

The Transport Secretary also revealed that, on the railways, development funding has been allocated to 10 proposed schemes to reinstate rail lines and stations lost to the Beeching cuts. “If they stack up, then we’re going to build them fast,” he said.
Initiatives awarded funding include the reinstatement of the Ivanhoe line from Leicester to Burton, branch lines on the Isle of Wight, and a new station at Wellington in Somerset.

Welcoming the announcement regarding the A66 dualling, Transport for the North’s major roads director Peter Molyneux said: “For almost 250 miles between Stoke on Trent and Glasgow, the only major east / west road connection is the M62, which is as a result overworked and congested.

“Upgrades to the A66 are absolutely essential to improve connections and experience, as the people that regularly use it will attest. Creating another full northern dual carriageway will speed up journeys, make the road more reliable for passengers and help freight get across the Pennines, connecting ports on both coasts.

“The key now will be looking at ways to get on site as quickly as possible to deliver the benefits,” he added.

A £45M design contract for the project has been awarded to Amey Consulting in collaboration with Arup. The preferred route features, in addition to five new bypasses, improvements to key junctions and an underpass at the congested Kemplay Bank roundabout near Penrith.

Highways England’s senior project manager Matt Townsend explained: “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.”

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

(Photograph: Department for Transport)