How £1bn upgrade of A66 will benefit the North – The Yorkshire Post says

Effectively the most significant improvement to east-west road links in five decades, the £1bn upgrade between Scotch Corner and Penrith will reduce the amount of HGVs and other freight traffic passing through the Yorkshire Dales by more circuitous routes like the A65 through Skipton, Gargrave and Settle. It will also make the A66 less vulnerable to winter road closures in snow.

And confirmation of the preferred route points to a determination by Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, to place infrastructure at the heart of the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery.

Yet, just like the announcement on the potential reopening of those railway lines that fell victim to the Beeching cuts, these are aspirations and it remains to be seen if they’re still affordable.

Coroanvirus has changed everything – not least us how businesses function and commuters use transport – and a moment of national realisation is rapidly approaching that the country will have to change how it operates. And, to ensure that public money is invested wisely, it means every scheme, from HS2 to local road improvements, being reappraised by the DfT to see if the business case meets the country’s post-Covid needs while also offering sufficient value to taxpayers.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

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Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson