Proposals to prioritise a selection of council-maintained roads for upgrades in North Yorkshire and York have been welcomed as part of plans to strengthen transport links.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive recently met to consider pushing forward a set of routes the authority has developed with City of York Council which provide strategic connection between towns, cities or regions, which give access to an important location or carry high frequency bus services.
The mayoral combined authority will then be asked to approve and coordinate the Key Route Network (KRN), which is a stipulation of the devolution agreement for York and North Yorkshire.
The KRN does not include routes that form part of the Strategic Road Network that are managed and maintained by National Highways, such as the A64.
The council’s executive member for highways is Councillor Keane Duncan, he says it'll include a significant slice of the county's routes:
The majority of the proposed extra routes are in North Yorkshire and include the A64 into Scarborough town centre.
Other routes in the proposal include the A63, from the A1(M) to East Riding boundary, the A171 Scarborough to Tees Valley boundary, the A170 Scarborough to Thirsk and the A169 Malton to Whitby.
Councillor Duncan says despite the proposals made, it won't result in other roads being ignored:
An officers’ report to the meeting states it is expected funding for maintenance schemes on the KRN will be part of the usual local
highway authority funding streams, which in North Yorkshire is £37 million a year.
However, following the cancellation of the HS2 link between Birmingham and Manchester the Department for Transport has proposed £31.42 million a year more funding for upgrades in North Yorkshire until 2033/34.
Councillor Paul Haslam remains positive the funding will come and raised another important consideration:
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