New hope for A64 upgrade (From Gazette & Herald)

New hope for A64 upgrade

The decades-long dream of major improvements to the A64 Scarborough to York road has taken a step nearer becoming reality with the disclosure that a scheme is to be put to the Government shortly.

County Councillor Murray Naylor of Rillington, a long-standing campaigner for the A64 to be upgraded, said he welcomed the news.

He said it could involve the entire stretch of the road being made a dual carriageway or part of it, with the remainder being widened.

He said the news had come from the Highways Agency and follows a meeting at Scarborough Building Society headquarters alongside the A64 at the Seamer bypass nearly a year ago, when Transport Minister David Jamieson met civic and business leaders from Ryedale and Scarborough in the society's boardroom along with highway chiefs from North Yorkshire County Council, the Highways Agency and bosses from the government office in Leeds.

At the end of the meeting Mr Jamieson had said he wanted a scheme brought forward to improve the A64 - a project which could cost as much as £200 million, experts believe.

Coun Naylor said "I welcome the news that the Government is considering dualling the A64 or at least part of it, but my concern is that the long awaited bypass for Rillington could now be put into a holding category for several years while the A64 is progressed."

Business and holiday company heads in Ryedale and Scarborough have made several lobbying visits to Westminster over many years to press successive governments on the importance of improving the A64, which is a renowned bottleneck for several months of the year in the summer season.

Updated: 14:54 Wednesday, February 09, 2005