North Yorkshire bypass granted £29m DfT funding

Work on the A684 bypass in North Yorkshire can now start after the Department for Transport (DfT) agreed to put £29 million towards the cost of the scheme.

The scheme consists of a new 4.8 kilometre single carriageway road from the A684 north of Bedale to the A684 east of Leeming Bar, which links into junction 51 of the A1(M).

Building is expected to start soon and will be completed in May 2016.

The bypass will remove traffic from villages and improve journey times on a vital east-west tourist route to the Yorkshire Dales. The communities of Bedale, Aiskew and Leeming Bar will be bypassed, making their roads quieter and safer. Access to the Leeming Bar Industrial Estate will also be improved.

Transport Minister Baroness Kramer said: “The A684 scheme will provide significant environmental improvements to the communities bypassed. The very important local tourist market will benefit and the bypass will help support growth of the local economy.

“We are putting £29m into this project because the government is serious about investing in the infrastructure the country needs to drive economic growth, both locally and nationally.”

The A684 is the principal east-west route between Northallerton, the county town of North Yorkshire, and the Yorkshire Dales.

The DfT will provide a maximum of £29.202 million towards the full scheme cost of £34.2 million.