A66 upgrade to begin at Penrith with local section due by 2031 as former PM questions nine-year timetable

Work on the A66 upgrade will start at Penrith next month, with the section to Temple Sowerby due to open by 2031, National Highways has confirmed.

But the decision to begin in Cumbria and spread construction over nine years has drawn criticism in North Yorkshire, where the North Yorkshire council leader Cllr Les and former prime minister and MP for Richmond and Northallerton Rishi Sunak have challenged the longer wait for improvements further east.

The new timetable follows Wednesday’s Budget announcement giving main construction the go-ahead. The project will create a continuous dual carriageway between the M6 at Penrith and the A1(M) at Scotch Corner, with the full route now forecast to take nine years to complete over the orginal planned five years, to see the upgraded A66 open in 2035.

Here in Penrith, the work includes replacing Kemplay Bank roundabout with a new underpass taking A66 traffic beneath the A6, along with improvements at M6 Junction 40.

National Highways set out the construction sequence in an update on Thursday. While the Penrith to Temple Sowerby section will be built first with work startign in November, archaeological investigations, utility diversions and other preparatory work will continue further east until 2030.

Construction on the section between Temple Sowerby and Carkin Moor is then expected to begin in 2030.

The agency said the programme had been extended from five years to nine to keep the scheme affordable.

Mr Sunak, the Conservative MP for Richmond and Northallerton, also expressed frustration, pointing out that work had previously been expected to begin in 2024.

National Highways acknowledged that communities towards the eastern end would be disappointed that construction would not start on every section immediately. It said the preparatory work would help reduce the risk of delays once building begins.

The timetable means drivers should see the Penrith section completed and open by 2031, but will have to wait a further four years before the remaining gaps in the dual carriageway to Scotch Corner are completed.