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The 'A66' is a major road in northern England which in part follows the course of the Roman road from Scotch Corner to Penrith.^[1] It runs from east of Middlesbrough in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire to Workington in Cumbria. It is anomalously numbered since west of Penrith it trespasses into Name Zone 5; this is because it originally terminated at the A6 in Penrith, but was extended further west in order to create one continuous east-west route.
From its eastern terminus between Redcar and Middlesbrough, it runs past Stockton-on-Tees and Darlington mainly as two to three lane dual-carriageway, becoming motorway standard as the 'A66(M)' shortly before meeting junction 57 of the A1(M). It continues west across the Pennines from junction 55 of the A1 road at Scotch Corner, past Brough, Appleby, Penrith, Keswick and Cockermouth, and on through the northern reaches of the Lake District, before arriving at the coastal town of Workington.

Contents

History

Gallery

Transpennine Dualling

A66(M)

Junctions

See also

References

External links

History

When road numbers were first designated in the 1920s, the A66 was assigned to the route between Penrith and Hull via Scotch Corner and York, mainly along former Roman roads. Its original route and today's route are between Penrith and Scotch Corner. The historic route between Scotch Corner and Hull follows what is now today's A1, A168, B6265, A59 and A1079. The A66 was extended westwards along the existing A594 (with upgrades) after the construction of the M6 motorway through Cumbria, to provide a more attractive route to the West Coast.^[2]

Gallery

Transpennine Dualling

The middle section of the A66 between Scotch Corner on the A1 and Penrith on the M6 forms one of the key transpennine trunk routes and has one of the worst road safety records in the UK. Various bypass and upgrades have been constructed since the early 1970s giving the current mix of single and dual-carriageway sections. In 2002, after many years of local campaigning, the Transport Minister John Spellar gave support for the upgrading of the remaining single carriageway sections by the Highways Agency. The first three projects began construction in early 2006. The whole route between the A1 and M6 was due to be dualled by 2011, by which time the A1 at Scotch Corner was also due to have been upgraded to motorway standard.
However after the construction of several sections was commenced it was announced that those schemes which are currently in the planning phase will not go ahead to construction until at least 2016. The Highways Agency website states "Other than those already committed, the Regions did not identify any other major schemes for the A66 as high priorities to receive funding. This means that there is currently no likelihood of any additional major schemes on this route being funded within the next ten year period. However, the Regional Funding Allocation process will be reviewed in due course and this will give an opportunity for the Regions to revise their priorities."

Section	Start	End	Dual-carriageway	Notes
M6-A6	M6 J40	A6	Opened 1971
Penrith Bypass	A6	Brougham	Opened 1971
Penrith-Temple Sowerby	Brougham	Winderwath	-	On hold
Temple Sowerby Bypass	Winderwath	Temple Sowerby East	Due ''2008''	Construction started February 2006
Temple Sowerby-Appleby	Temple Sowerby East	Crackenthorpe	-	On hold
Appleby Bypass	Crackenthorpe	Coupland	Opened by 1982
Warcop Bypass	Coupland	Brough West	-	On hold
Brough Bypass	Brough West	Brough East	Opened 1977
Brough-Stainmore	Brough East	Stainmore	Opened 1994
Stainmore Bypass	Stainmore	Banks Gate	Opened 1992
Bowes Moor	Banks Gate	Bowes West	Opened 1993
Bowes Bypass	Bowes West	Bowes East	-	On hold
Boldon Bypass	Bowes East	Cross Lanes	Opened by 1983
Cross Lanes-Greta Bridge	Cross Lanes	Greta Bridge West	-	On hold
Greta Bridge Bypass	Greta Bridge West	Greta Bridge East	Opened 1980
Greta Bridge-Stephen Bank	Greta Bridge East	Stephen Bank	Due ''2008''	Construction started March 2006
Stephen Bank-Carkin Moor	Stephen Bank	Carkin Moor	-	On hold
Carkin Moor-Scotch Corner (A1)	Carkin Moor	Scotch Corner (A1)	Due ''2008''	Construction started March 2006

All dates for openings are estimates based upon information provided by the Highways Agency and are subject to change or delay.

A66(M)

The 'A66(M)' is a spur from the A1(M). It was opened in 1965 along with the A1(M) as part of the ''Darlington by-pass motorway''^[3]. It can only be accessed by northbound traffic on the A1(M) and has exit to this route southbound only.

Junctions

'A1(M) Motorway'
Eastbound exits	Junction	Westbound exits
Darlington 'A66' Stapleton, Barton		''Start of motorway''
''Start of motorway''	A1(M) J57	The SOUTH, Scotch Corner 'A1(M)'

See also

★ List of motorways in the United Kingdom

References

1.
2. A66 at SABRE
3. The Motorway Archive - A1(M) & A66(M) The Darlington By-Pass motorway Dates Page

External links

★ CBRD Motorway Database - A66(M)

★ Pathetic Motorways - A66(M)

★ SABRE article on the A66

★ The Motorway Archive - A1(M) & A66(M) The Darlington By-Pass motorway

★ Road to Nowhere: A66

★ A66 will be Fixed - This is the North East

★ Highways Agency