A64 Dualling Omitted As Government Announces £2 Billion Road Investment Strategy

Plans to dual the A64 between York and Scarborough have been left out of the Government's latest Road Investment Strategy, despite a multi-billion pound funding announcement for the region's transport network.

The long-awaited dualling of the A64 between York and Scarborough has been omitted from the Government's newly announced Road Investment Strategy.

Despite a commitment of over two billion pounds to upgrade and future-proof roads across the North East and Yorkshire, the A64 Hopgrove to Barton-le-Willows scheme has not been included in the plans for the next five years, nor has it been identified as a pipeline project for future development.

The route is widely regarded as a vital strategic corridor linking York to Malton and the East Coast. A recent North Yorkshire Council report highlighted that the existing road is a major source of congestion and safety concerns, particularly during peak travel times and holiday periods when traffic merges from dual to a single lane.

The council report also noted that the road's limitations are seen as a barrier to investment, productivity, and regional economic growth.

National Highways previously completed a public consultation in 2022 on potential improvement options. However, an update provided to the council's Transport, Economy, Environment and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee explained the difficulties the project has faced.

In a report from National Highways, about the A64 upgrade plans, last autumn the agency said::

"We found our emerging options in Stage 2 were high in cost and assessed as having low value for money. To try and identify ways to reduce cost, we carried out a value engineering study on Option D (the most popular option at consultation - a new dual carriageway running northwest in parallel with the current A64, re-joining around the Scotchman Lane Junction before separating and re-joining approximately 1km south of the Steelmore Lane Junction, with the current A64 becoming a local access road).

While we found elements of the design that could be altered, the changes would have required additional changes elsewhere on the route and therefore we were unable to find reasonable savings, so the overall scheme costs remained high with low value for money.

The findings of our work were shared with DfT in 2023 and no further technical work has taken place on the scheme since. The final decision on schemes rests with government."

Instead of new construction on the A64, the Government is focusing heavily on maintaining the existing network. The new Road Investment Strategy, known as RIS3, will see a record 8.4 billion pounds invested across England to repair and renew motorways and major A-roads.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said:

"For too long this country has failed to tackle and fix our crumbling infrastructure, but this £2 billion investment will secure the future of our road network in the North East and Yorkshire for years to come.

Not only are we investing in renewing our roads, meaning smoother and faster journeys for drivers, we are getting on with investing into brand new projects which will deliver benefits across the region, from Tyneside all the way to South Yorkshire."

Projects in the region that have secured funding include the dualling of the remaining single-carriageway sections of the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine route, the full reconstruction of ageing concrete on the M180, and the refurbishment of two bridges on the M62 near Goole.

Roads and Buses Minister Simon Lightwood said:

"This Government is firmly putting its money where its mouth is, and this new funding will be transformational for the millions of drivers and thousands of businesses that rely on our motorways and A roads every day.

By investing in existing infrastructure and new schemes, such as the long-awaited dualling of the A66, we are giving everyone the confidence they can get from A to B faster and smoother than ever before."

The shift in focus towards maintenance rather than major new building projects has been welcomed by some industry experts.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said:

"The RAC Foundation long argued for and is hugely supportive of National Highways having a framework based on an adequate five-year funding budget, so we are pleased with this confirmation of the detail behind the earlier announcement on RIS 3.

There is clear logic behind the move to prioritise renewals activity and scale back ambitions for new construction, given the pressures on our extensive but aging major road network. National Highways will need to develop new engineering and traffic management solutions to ensure we can keep moving despite the substantial volume of work involved."

While the A19 Moor Farm Junction in the North East has been identified as a scheme to be explored for the future RIS4 pipeline, the A64 upgrade remains uncommitted, leaving local leaders and residents waiting for a solution to the route's long-standing congestion issues.

List of schemes in the North East and Yorkshire to be funded during RIS3 

Schemes to be explored for RIS4 or future pipeline 

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