A STRETCH of York Outer Ring Road is to be turned into a dual carriageway, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has announced.

The badly congested road is set to be dualled from the Malton Road roundabout at least as far as the Haxby Road roundabout, but possibly as far as the A19 junction,said York council leader Ian Gillies.

The project is one of the first five 'Major Road Network' schemes across the country to be unveiled by the Minister, who said they would 'unlock no end of benefits for communities by improving motorists' journeys, taking traffic away from built up areas, as well as enabling new housing to be built and creating more jobs.'

Cllr Gillies said the authority had had ongoing discussions with the Department for Transport to make the case for dualling a section of the outer ring road anti-clockwise from the Malton Road roundabout, close to its junction with the A64 at Hopgrove roundabout.

“The announcement is great news for York," he said. "We looking forward to hearing the detail behind this funding announcement so that we can get on and improve the transport and connectivity of this great city."

Cllr Gillies said he had had a one-to-one discussion about the need for dualling with the Minister some months ago, but a bid had only just gone in from the council after a 'lot of hard work' from officers.

He said the full bid was for dualling of the whole stretch from the Malton Road roundabout to the A19 junction at Rawcliffe, which would cost about £30 million, but the Government might only fund a shorter stretch, to the Wigginton Road roundabout or the Haxby Road roundabout.

He stressed that the work would be assisted by the ongoing £37 million project to upgrade seven roundabouts along the route of the ring road, which would make them suitable to handle a dual carriageway.

The Press launched its Dual Them! campaign last year, calling for both the ring road and the A64 east of York to be dualled.

The Major Road Network consists f the ‘middle tier’ of the busiest and most economically important local ‘A’ roads in England, and local authorities with them could apply for funding to help tackle bottlenecks and traffic jams. The money for the work will come from Vehicle Excise Duty.

Mr Grayling said:"Under Labour these major local roads were underfunded and not properly maintained. We are spending record amounts on improving our roads and we want more of our busiest roads to benefit from guaranteed investment."

But York Central Labour MP Rachael Maskell tweeted that 'Grayling’s obsession with building roads means that he is not making the investment in the transport modal shift that is needed. 'With his policy will mean that the UK will fail to meet its Paris commitments. This is serious.'

Julian Sturdy, MP for York Outer, said the announcement was "very welcome news for York".

He said: "Upgrading the ring road has remained one of my top priorities for the area and after debates, questions and letters to Ministers I am pleased that the Government is delivering.

"This is a big step towards ensuring that the ring road is fit for purpose and passengers can expect reasonable journey times throughout."

Cllr Stephen Fenton, Liberal Democrat spokesman for transport, said: "The York Outer Ring Road has long been identified as an opportunity to improve traffic flows in the city and with the announcement of funding, we have an opportunity to increase capacity and improve the general condition of the road. We will await further details of how the funding will be used in the Spring and work to ensure that this opportunity is seized upon."