Transport Insights

Returning to the theme of the schemes in the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS 3) that will carry both construction activity and costs into the next RIS, getting more expensive the longer they are delayed, the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine is now set to cost over £2bn.

What makes this example even more farcical is that the scheme was part of Boris Johnson’s 2020 Project Speed to, well, speed up infrastructure schemes, and was given special funding for this purpose.

I was the first person to report that the costs of the scheme had hit £1.5bn.

Now, the Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR) advice on National Highways’ draft strategic business plan reveals that the total costs of the 16 enhancement schemes in the draft strategic business plan (SBP) are around £600m higher than previous estimate.  

This difference is predominantly from the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine scheme, where the outturn cost in the draft SBP compared was £540m above the most recent forecast.

Assuming that the most recent forecast was £1.5bn, that puts the scheme at well over £2bn. I don’t really like saying that something has breached an imaginary barrier but in this case I use the word ironically, to point out that the costs of these schemes just seem to escalate without any constraints.

As I have written, the problem is that the longer these schemes get dragged out, the more expensive they become, causing them to be dragged out further, and consequently more expensive.

The A66 scheme is scheduled to begin in Q4 of 2026-27 (i.e.) next winter and finish some time in RIS 4.

Which is unfortunate as, according to the ORR, under Project Speed, there was

additional funding in year 1 of RP2 to accelerate works on the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine (£146 million)

In November 2023, I reported:

Ministers have been ridiculed for delaying a planning decision on a £1.5bn road scheme in the North of England, which was hailed as part of the Government’s ‘Project Speed’ initiative to deliver the benefits of infrastructure projects more quickly.

Ridicule aside, what is scandalous is the way that the Department for Transport has published wholly disingenuous updates to its official accounting officer assessment for the scheme. The current version, said to be updated in February 2026, is only marginally different from the original in 2022. It’s even allegedly signed as permanent secretary by Bernadette Kelly, who left last year.

There is no figure for the cost of the scheme and the benefit cost ratio (BCR) has not been updated and remains poor value for money at 0.90, leaving the project to be justified on “strategic” grounds, including:

Delivering the A66 as part of Project Speed provides insight into how government major construction schemes can be delivered faster, realising benefits sooner.

How’s that working out?