£7million flood resilience boost for A66 in Cumbria

The A66 was affected by flooding in 2009 and 2015 Credit: Highways England

A £7million project to make the A66 at Bassenthwaite Lake in Cumbria more flood resilient has been completed this week.

Highways England have made a number of improvements to the road.

One of these includes raising carriageways near the lake to improve severe weather resilience.

The A66 was affected by flooding from the lake during the storms of November 2009 and again in December 2015.

Five sections of the route have been improved since the project started last September:

  • £1.5million - raising the eastbound and westbound carriageways by 70 centimetres at Embleton. Completed in February 2017.

  • £600,000 - realigning and raising the westbound carriageway near Smithy Cottage. Completed in February 2017.

  • £2million and £1.7million - raising the carriageway near Thornthwaite. Completed with removal of temporary traffic lights on Friday 11 August.

  • £1.1million - stabilising the westbound carriageway to prevent severe weather land slippage. Completed in April 2017.

Drainage culverts under the road show the carriageway has been raised Credit: Highways England
New and improved facilities have been installed such as this layby Credit: Highways England

Highways England hope the improvements will reduce the risk of future disruption: