A64 York to Scarborough: is this the worst road in Great Britain?
The irony that this is not news to potentially even a single person who picks up this newspaper is not lost on The Yorkshire Post, be assured, but it does bear repeating: the A64 to Scarborough is dangerously unfit for purpose.
In recent years, this piece of critical transportation infrastructure has garnered for itself the ignominy of becoming regarded as one of if not the most dangerous highways in the North of England.
Now, thanks to a Freedom of Information request, we learn that not only is the A64 an accident waiting to happen, each and every day, it is also highly likely to be closed, too.
Since 2020, at some point along the route, the A64 has been closed for the equivalent of 218 days, or more than seven months. Crucially, those closures are not solely due to the likelihood of an accident or emergency incident occurring, but are instead planned, scheduled closures allowing for the safe undertaking of repairs and maintenance.
That is telling because it underscores that this stretch of road, linking Leeds and York to coastal Yorkshire, is under more pressure than it can cope with. Piecemeal funding for sticking-plaster repairs here and there quite simply is throwing good money after bad.
The lives lost to the A64 ought to be more than enough for ministers to heed the calls for a complete dualling of this now infamous stretch of road, but they are not. The lives that will be lost, inevitably, do not seem to win the argument either.
Perhaps, then, the economic argument might cut through to the decision-makers; the money lost by individuals and businesses alike owing to the repeated closure of a key arterial route runs into the millions. Even when it is open, due to overuse, it is strangling our local economy. It all begs the question: what, exactly, are they waiting for?