THE ROADS minister says he wants to see capacity on the trans-Pennine A66 improved, but declined to make firm commitments during a visit to the region today (Tuesday, August 11).

Andrew Jones was speaking as his government published a £13 billion blueprint bringing together previously announced road and rail projects it hopes will transform transport under the so-called 'Northern Powerhouse' project.

Last December, the government announced a feasibility study into dualling the A66 between County Durham and Cumbria, along with the A69 between Carlisle and Newcastle.

Speaking during a visit to see progress on improvements to the A1 in Gateshead, Mr Jones said: “I want to see (trans-Pennine) capacity improve. The A66 is a good road but it still has sections of single track running and also it closes for some parts of the year because it’s so exposed and gets high winds and snow.”

But asked what he wanted done, he said: “I’ve set the question rather than the answer.”

He added: “It’s part of making our road network in the North-East more robust, better fit for the future and less liable to winter weather.”

Work is ongoing on £60m-worth of improvements to the A1 from Coal House to the Metro Centre and £290m has been committed to dualling the A1 as far north as Ellingham, Northumberland and adding overtaking lanes and improving junctions to the Scottish Border.

Mr Jones said the prospects were “good” for dualling the entire A1 to the border, but said: “We’ve got to correct a historic, long-term underinvestment in infrastructure. There are tons of projects that need doing but we can only do some of them at one time.”

Turning his attention to North Yorkshire, where he is MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, he said the county would be in a “very good place” when A1 improvements are completed, with unbroken motorway from London to Newcastle for the first time.

Other road improvements planned include: £140m for technology on the A1 and A19, £100m for the A19/A1058 Coast Road junction, £70m to take the A19 over Testos junction, £40m for the A19 Down Hill Lane junction and up to £220m to widen the A19 between Norton and Wynyard.