Highways Agency

Update - Thursday 18th October

The £36.6 million A66 Temple Sowerby bypass is officially opened to traffic today, removing noise, congestion and pollution from the village and making journeys on the A66 across the Pennines safer and more reliable for long-distance traffic.

The new bypass is designed to reduce traffic through the village by 95 per cent, significantly reducing the impact on the community of around 15,000 vehicles which use the A66 every day.  The new 3-mile (4.9 kilometre) dual carriageway will run from a new junction with Cliburn Road at the west of the village through to a new junction at the eastern end tying in with Morland Road.
 
For drivers on the A66, the journey between Penrith and Scotch Corner is now more reliable after two new sections of dual carriageway opened to traffic on October 1, between Greta Bridge and Stephen Bank and Carkin Moor and Scotch Corner, in addition to the new bypass opening today at Temple Sowerby.
 
The new Temple Sowerby bypass has been carefully planned with screening and tree planting to reduce noise and intrusion on the village, which has 22 Grade II listed buildings in its centre and a fine stone arch bridge over the River Eden.
 
Although traffic is now able to use the new bypass, work to link the new road into the existing A66 will continue and the project will be finally completed by January 2008.

The Project

The A66 is the major east-west route connecting the A1, the North East, Teesside and North Yorkshire with the M6 and the west coast of Cumbria. The volume of traffic (over 13,000 vehicles per day) using the A66 through Temple Sowerby, results in a poor accident record and severs the village bringing noise, pollution and visual intrusion.

The Scheme

The 5 km (3.1 mile) dual carriageway bypass starts in the west near Whinfell House and passes to the south and west of Temple Sowerby terminating in the east near Spitals Farm.

From Whinfell House, heading east, the Scheme sweeps to the south, rising on embankments to cross Cliburn Road on a bridge which forms part of a compact two level junction providing access to and from the existing A66 west of the village. Cliburn Road will be realigned but will still provide access to Ash Hill Cottages. Access to Whinfell House will be provided by a new track leading from Cliburn Road.

Passing to the north of Ash Hill Farm the Bypass will be in cutting, with a bridge over the Bypass providing access to Ash Hill Farm from the present A66. As the Bypass approaches the river, the land drops and the road continues on embankment, crossing the flood plain and the River Eden on a bridge approximately 7 m above the river bank The Bypass continues to run on embankment changing to a cutting as it passes to the west of Acton Lodge. The existing bridleway near Acton Lodge will cross the Bypass on a bridge that will be also used for farm access. The road will continue in cutting until it returns to existing ground level to the west of Vicarage Lane. From this point, the Bypass will then rise on embankment to cross Morland Road where a two level junction provides access to and from the east of the village. From Morland Road the Bypass runs on a shallow embankment to rejoin the existing A66 adjacent to Spitals Farm.