National Highways £1bn A66 works move into next phase after public consultation

The proposal for the biggest investment on the north’s road network in a generation is moving into a new phase thanks to vital feedback from the public.

National Highways has listened to the opinions of people and taken action by refining designs for the £1bn A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project.

The project will lead to significant improvements to the A66 between M6 junction 40 and A1 at Scotch Corner by dualling the remaining single carriageway sections of the route and upgrading key junctions.

The road runs east to west across northern England, providing access to the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District National Park, as well as carrying high levels of freight.

However, the route is not up to modern standards, meaning drivers face congestion, delays at key junctions and substandard access to jobs and leisure locations. Today, National Highways publishes its Statutory Consultation Summary Report alongside a Winter 2022 Project Update setting out updated plans for the vital project.

Last autumn National Highways spent six weeks talking to communities, drivers and businesses who use the vital route about the proposal. More than 1,200 people and organisations gave their thoughts, while over 1,500 attended a series of public information events.

The responses are helping to shape the final design and inform National Highways’ application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) in May 2022 which, if successful, will pave the way for the scheme to go ahead.

Lee Hillyard, National Highways’ A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project director, said: “We’re delighted so many people have taken such a keen interest in our proposals and I’d like to thank everyone for their responses.

“Today we’ve published our statutory consultation summary report and ​Spring 2022 project update, which is the perfect opportunity to provide the latest information and show how we are acting on the feedback we’ve received.”

The provision of walking, cycling and horse riding (WCH) routes has been a major talking point during the route’s development and, after listening to feedback, additional WCH routes are now being proposed in some areas.

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