THE Highways Agency has spelled out fully for the first time why it refuses to immediately close a dangerous gap on the A64 - even though it might save lives.

The agency says the road safety benefits of shutting the central reservation gap at Bilbrough Top would have to be weighed against social and commercial disadvantages to residents and businesses.

Paul Tucker, the counsel for the agency, revealed that another factor was the Government's policy to reduce reliance on the private car.

He said it would be "somewhat odd" for the agency to cause many thousands of extra vehicle miles by sending cars further along the A64 to cross the dual carriageway via flyovers at York and Tadcaster.

The closure would also do nothing to alleviate the hazards presented by a number of dangerous access points on to the A64.

But he conceded closure would "undoubtedly remove turning manoeuvres across the carriageway from a junction which has proven hazardous over very many years."

The Evening Press has been campaigning for years for the Bilbrough Top gap, between York and Tadcaster, to be closed without delay on safety grounds.

We have argued that drivers could use the flyovers at York and Tadcaster until one is built at Bilbrough.

A petition signed by many hundreds of readers, and backed by emergency services and a number of accident victims, was handed to the then Roads Minister, Lord Whitty, in December 1999.

But the agency has steadfastly refused to shut the gap until the new flyover is completed.

Since then, there have been more accidents involving vehicles going through the gap to get to the opposite side of the A64.

And the flyover is not likely to be completed until the summer of 2004. A public inquiry into the agency's flyover proposals finished yesterday, with Mr Tucker giving a robust defence of its scheme and dismissing several alternatives suggested by objectors, including the suggestion that the gap should simply be closed to reduce the bad accident record, without any other measures.

He said the flyover was fundamentally a good scheme, providing clear benefits to public safety that were urgently needed.

The inquiry inspector is expected to give the Secretary of State his recommendations sometime next year.

Updated: 11:10 Wednesday, November 14, 2001