Carbon cost for A66 preferred route questioned by residents | New Civil Engineer
Catherine Kennedy
Local residents have claimed that the preferred route for a section of National Highways’ £1bn A66 Northern Trans-Pennine project has been selected despite producing more carbon than the alternative.
National Highways announced the preferred route for the length of road past Kirby Thore village in Cumbria in May 2020.
However, according to the sifting matrix used to evaluate the routes, the preferred route would lead to 602,166t of carbon emissions, compared to 177,289t for the discounted option.
Local resident Emma Nicholson emphasised that “rather than going in a straight line that would be around 3km” National Highways has chosen to “go round the village, which would be between 4km or 5km” (see diagram below).
