A66 Bowes to Cumbrian border central barrier and signage upgrades - 6 May 2025 - Autumn 2025

We’ve now completed phase one and moving on to the second phase of our essential safety improvements on the A66 between the Snow Gats at Bowes and the Cumbrian border.

From Friday 25 July, we’re moving to the second phase between the Coach and Horses and the Cumbrian border. 

To make this transition, we'll need night-time closures on one carriageway. 

Traffic lights and a convoy will be in operation, with a contraflow on the opposite carriageway:

25, 27, 28 and 29 July

• A66 eastbound closed between Snow Gates and Coach and Horses 

30 and 31 July

• A66 westbound closed between Coach and Horses and Snow Gates 

5 and 6 August and 11 to 12 August

• A66 westbound closed from Coach and Horses to the Cumbrian border

7, 8 and 10 August

• A66 eastbound between the Cumbrian border and Coach and Horses

Residents, businesses and communities will have access to their properties throughout the work. While we will do all we can to minimise disruption, we apologise for any delays or inconvenience.

The timescales for this project have now been updated from previously advertised dates.
 
We’ll start preparing for the barrier upgrade on Tuesday 6 May, when we’ll install the traffic management needed for this scheme.
 
We'll then start work on the barrier itself on Wednesday 21 May and work until Autumn 2025. 
 
We'll work in phases:

• phase 1 - Snow Gates to Coach and Horses
• phase 2 - Coach and Horses to the Cumbrian border. 

Traffic management

From 6 May, we’ll put in place overnight localised contraflow systems which will enable us to install the lane 2 closures we need to carry out the barrier replacement.  

Construction of the new barrier itself then begin on Wednesday 21 May.  

This will involve the following traffic management:

• 24-hour lane two closure and narrow lanes with 40mph speed restriction between A66 Cumbria and Bowes.
• Closing some laybys adjacent to the A66 eastbound and westbound carriageways. 

We’ll also require overnight localised contraflows for two weeks mid-scheme to move from phase 1 to phase 2, and again at the end of scheme to remove all the temporary works.  

This scheme is due to continue until Autumn 2025. 

Temporary speed cameras will be installed on the route during the works, with free recovery available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Vehicles over 2.9m wide

During this work, vehicles over 2.9m wide won't be able to travel on the A66 between Bowes and Brough east or westbound. 

We'll divert vehicles over 2.9m wide by the M62. Alternatively, you can divert by the A1, A194, A184 and back onto the A1 at junction 69. From this junction, travel north to junction 75 and follow A69 westbound, or the reverse for east and southbound vehicles. 

Access

Residents, business and communities who may be affected will have access to their properties throughout the scheme. 

We'll update this page as we work.

Please note, this is part of routine maintenance and not part of the A66 North Trans Pennine dualling scheme. 

Benefits

Our upgrade will make the route safer and reduce incidents. Doing this work now means will reduce disruption in future.

Please remember that closures can change at short notice. You can check the latest information on our daily closures page or find live travel information on our Traffic England. Our travel alerts give details of live incidents on our network.