Highways England have announced the first step in a £1bn transformation of a road which links the North East to Cumbria.
The A66 northern trans-Pennine route leads from the A1(M) at Scotch Corner in North Yorkshire to the M6 at Penrith in Cumbria.
The remaining single carriageway sections of the 50 mile road are now set to be fully dualled in "one of the biggest infrastructure investments ever delivered in the north of England".
The route links our region to the south of the Lake District and is a popular for visitors to the national park, as well as for hauliers travelling to and from northern ports.
On Friday, Highways England announced it was opening the contract for the £45 million contract to design the redevelopment to tender.
Highways England senior project manager Matt Townsend said: “The A66 northern trans-Pennine project will be one of the biggest infrastructure investments ever delivered in the north of England and we want to attract and work with the best suppliers to help deliver and realise the benefits that dualling the remaining single sections of the A66 will bring.
This is the first contract we’ll be awarding as the project moves towards the design and statutory processes phases. The successful supplier will work closely with us to help deliver the best design for the transformation of this trans-Pennine route.”
Highways England will be unveiling the designs for dualling the remaining sections next spring. This will be followed by publication of the report from this year’s consultation and it’s hoped construction work can start before the end of to 2025.
Public information events about the preferred routes are set to be held in the summer of 2020.
