1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196 
RHA calls for dual A66
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Haulage leaders are pressing for the entire A66 trans-Pennine route to be uprated to dual carriageway in a bid to cut its accident rate which costs almost 10 lives every year.
The Road Haulage Association describes the 50-mile road from Penrith to Scotch Corner as one of the most dangerous in the UK and says it has a high proportion of trucks doing long-distance journeys.
A study published by consultants Maunsell Transport Planning (MP) for the Highways Agency has come up with a plan designed to improve safety on the route.
But RHA northern regional director Geoff Dunning says the study favours the £25m option of combining traffic calming with some dual carriageway instead of dualling the entire route at a cost of 2,43m.
He argues that traffic calming will make no difference to drivers who are unfamiliar with where the single-carriageway sections are. If a car pulls out to overtake an HGV and runs into another HGV, the car is going to have a serious problem," he says. "We are talking about finishing off a job that is already more than half done."
The RHA is part of the A66 Completion Group which includes the Confederation of British Industry and three local authorities.
A spokesman for the Highways Agency says MTP will submit its final report in March following consultation with the group: "It will then be up to the regional planning bodies to decide what to take forward as their priority."