Rising hopes of major upgrade for key A64 trunk road in North Yorkshire

Details of an improvement programme costing almost £4m are due to be discussed by North Yorkshire county councillors today.

Councillors will be told that £3m is to be spent starting later this month on nine re-surfacing schemes, with a further £675,000 on road marking renewal projects and £300,000 on signage and a new pedestrian refuge at 
Ganton.

“We look for all opportunities for improvements to the network that will tackle causes of reported accidents,” said Mandy Foster, asset manager for the Highways Agency.

Funding for capital schemes have “increased significantly this year,” added Ms Foster. As a result road maintenance schemes in the Ryedale area on the A64 are being brought forward.

However, the second phase of the long-awaited Barton Hill crossroads will not be carried out until after April 1.

The A64 is now part of the Highway’s Agency’s South Pennines Route Strategy, said Ms Foster.

Scheme feasibility work has now started and route strategies are to be published next spring.

She said planned works include the possible upgrading of the A64 east of the Hopgrove Roundabout and into the Ryedale Area.

Meanwhile, Scarborough Council has agreed to contribute £20,000 towards a feasibility probe into the A64 designed to strengthen the case for its improvement.

Thirsk and Malton MP Anne McIntosh has urged the Government to re-consider a decision not to go ahead with a proposed £50m upgrading of the trunk road.