WORK to improve one of the country's most dangerous roads could take several years, the Highways Agency warned last night.

A series of public consultations is being held on plans to create six sections of dual-carriageway on the A66 trans-Pennine route, between Scotch Corner and Penrith, in Cumbria.

A Highways Agency spokesman said: "There's a long way to go yet and a lot of hurdles to jump over before anything gets done.

"It's difficult to say how long these things take at this stage. It will probably be a few years.

"We're encouraging people to come along to the public exhibitions to state their preferred route and fill in a questionnaire and give their objections."

A safety report published last year recommended that the entire 50-mile stretch be dualled.

It is currently a mixture of single and dual carriageway, a major contributor to the number of serious accidents.

The Northern Echo has spearheaded the campaign for action to reduce the growing death toll on the road, which has claimed more than 70 lives in the past ten years.

The sections to be put to consultation are the Bowes bypass; Cross Lane to Greta Bridge; Stephen Bank to Carkin Moor; Penrith to Temple Sowerby; Temple Sowerby to Appleby; and Appleby to Brough.

Geoff Dunning, the regional director of the Road Haulage Association, said: "We'll be writing to the Highways Agency, urging them to get the scheme in progress as quickly as possible."

Ian Moorhouse, the chairman of the Teesdale branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said the environmental aspects of the work would be a major factor.

But he added: "This is certainly an unsafe piece of road and, personally speaking, one which I hate travelling on. Anything which can be done to make it safer should be done."

Three other schemes are already included in the programme of improvements and are progressing. They are Temple Sowerby bypass, Greta Bridge to Stephen Bank and Carkin Moor to Scotch Corner.

The dates for the exhibitions are: Newsham village hall, Wednesday, 6pm to 9pm, and Thursday, 10am to 8pm; Warcop village hall, Wednesday, 6pm to 9pm, and Thursday, 10am to 8pm; Bowes and Gilmonby village hall, Friday, noon to 8pm, and Saturday, 10am to 2pm; Temple Sowerby village hall, November 24, 10am to 8pm, and November 25, 10am to 8pm; and Kirkby Thore village hall, November 27, 10am to 8pm, and November 28, 10am to 8pm.