A "ROBUST" case has not yet been made for dualling the A64. So says North Yorkshire highways engineer Stuart Hurst.

Mr Hurst knows more than most about the county's roads. But on this point he is wrong.

As one county councillor observed last night, a compelling case for dualling the A64 has been made for at least 15 years.

Safety reasons alone demand that the road's capacity should be increased. But there are also sound social and economic grounds.

For each year that the A64 remains as it is, lives will be lost. That is an inescapable truth.

Motorists travelling between York and Scarborough are faced with every possible hazard. Stretches of fast dual carriageway abruptly narrowing into slower single carriageway sections; steep hills; acute bends; pedestrians crossing; traffic light-controlled junctions; cyclists and sluggish farm traffic.

Such poor conditions have taken their toll. Nine people have been killed and 230 injured on the road in the past two years.

Various piecemeal improvements will make some difference, but only a complete upgrade will significantly cut the carnage: deaths could be reduced by more than a fifth, according to a recent report.

The same study proved the economic case for dualling. Consultants Steer Davies Gleave found that it would help to create and retain 1,150 jobs over a 30-year period.

Congestion on the A64 is costing Ryedale and the East Coast resorts a fortune. Already the road is in the AA's top ten worst spots for summer jams. As traffic increases, so will the financial damage.

All this adds up to a watertight case for dualling. It is inexplicable that Government did not recognise this and failed to include the scheme in its £7 billion road building package.

Updated: 11:43 Friday, November 28, 2003