THE MP promising improvements to the A64 has stood by his comments that a section of the road east of York will become dualled as part of a £250 million investment in Hopgrove Roundabout.

Robert Goodwill, junior transport minister and MP for Scarborough and Whitby, revealed that the £15 billion road improvement scheme announced in the Autumn Statement includes a quarter of a billion pound spend on the A64, with a new flyover at Hopgrove Roundabout and subsequent dualling of the road towards the east.

The Department for Transport has confirmed the Hopgrove Roundabout junction is in line for the upgrade, but has not committed to any dualling plans, stating: “The government has committed in the future to developing a scheme to upgrade the A64 Hopgrove junction to the east of York.

“As part of the detailed design of the scheme we will consider the case for dualling nearby sections of the A64.”

However Mr Goodwill has stated dualling the road will be part of the deal, with the only unknown being exactly how far the double carriageway will extend.

He said: “There has got to be a short length of dualling given the nature of the junction improvement, they aren’t just going to dump traffic straight back out on to a single lane. Now we need to see how much dualling we can get. Ideally it will be right up to the Whitwell on the Hill dual carriage way, and £250 million is a lot of money when you consider the new Tyne Tunnel cost £260 million.

“I’m working with other MP’s the LEPs and the Highways Agency to see how far we can go with that budget to improve this notorious road which hasn’t had any substantial investment for the last 32 years.”