Robert Goodwill has welcomed the announcement that the A64 will get a share of the £15bn roads investment package announced as part of the 2014 Autumn Statement. He said:
“The announcement on Monday includes up to £250m to address the capacity problems on the Hopgrove section of the A64. Obviously the way to approach the upgrading has always been to start at the West where the traffic is heaviest. Once the road reaches Malton, the traffic splits with some going to Pickering/Whitby, some to Beverley/Driffield and quite a lot going to the Malton area as a final destination. Whilst Rillington can be a pinch point, the road generally runs OK to Staxton unless there is an accident. The traffic data bears this out. Hopgrove is a real problem east bound during the evening rush hour (particularly on Friday evenings) as the roundabout slows everyone down. The reduction to single carriageway is also an issue but if grade separation was carried out with a flyover then the Scarborough bound traffic would not be mixed up with cars wanting to go to York and Monk's Cross. Eastbound (on Sunday evenings) presents an issue at the end of the Malton Bypass and also at Hopgrove. This is despite the fact that the road goes to dual at Hopgrove but the Roundabout prevents the vehicles getting quickly onto the bypass at York. Grade separation will solve this straight away.
The budget for this is a massive sum of up to £250m which would then allow us to extend the dualling toward Malton. Our challenge, as the scheme is specified, is to get as much dualling as possible and to address some of the dangerous junctions such as those at Stockton on Forest and Flaxton.
The Northern York outer ring road is not a Highways Agency route and so cannot be part of this investment”.