A BLACKSPOT crossroads where people are said to take their lives in their hands on the A1 is to be upgraded as part of a £145m programme to improve 92 junctions on English trunk roads and motorways.

The Highways Agency announced this week that a temporary overbridge is to be built at the notorious Rainton crossroads, near Boroughbridge, pending the start of work to convert the A1 between Dishforth and Barton into a three-lane motorway. It is hoped to have the bridge in place by autumn next year.

The work is being planned in an attempt to overcome safety problems associated with the gap in the central reservation giving access to and from Rainton village.

Over the past 13 years there has been a catalogue of accidents involving deaths and serious injuries as drivers used the gap and were hit by fast moving dual carriageway traffic. Critics of the crossroads have included a coroner who conducted an inquest on a teenage accident victim.

The overbridge proposal was yesterday welcomed by Rainton Parish Council chairman David Cornmell, who said there had been tragic loss of life at the crossroads.

He added: "We have been pressing for this for a long time because the crossroads has been a real problem for a number of years.

"Following pressure from Anne McIntosh (MP for the Vale of York), new lighting has been installed and there has been a redesign of the junction. They were turning a deaf ear until she became involved.

"But the main problem is farm vehicles wanting to get over the crossroads to reach farm land on the other side of the A1. Farmers take their lives in their hands.

"The overbridge will be a safety measure over and above what already exists and the Highways Agency has obviously decided that it is very important, but we don't know yet whether it will become a permanent feature of the motorway scheme."

Miss McIntosh said yesterday: "Only minor improvements have been made to the crossroads so far and I am very pleased that an overbridge is being planned, but a lot of credit must go to local people who have been pressing for action for a long time. They deserve it.

"I shall be trying to clarify whether this will become a permanent part of the motorway proposals between Dishforth and Barton. I would hope there is an arrangement that will fit in."

It was announced in June that work on the motorway upgrading was expected to start in 2007-08.