HIGHWAYS bosses have announced their preferred bidder for the £260m project to upgrade, maintain and operate a 33-mile section of the Great North Road.

In an incentive to minimise disruption, they plan to pay for the work on a pioneering sliding-scale system.

The design, build, finance and operate contract for the section of the A1 from Darrington, near Pontefract, to Dishforth, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, is to be negotiated with Road Management Limited.

The contract involves the upgrading of two short stretchs of the road to three-lane motorway standard, and the future maintenance and operation of the whole 33 miles for another 30 years.

The payment system has been developed by the Highways Agency and is based on the contract-winning company's ability to minimise congestion, reduce road accidents and provide a high-quality operating service.

The company will be paid on a sliding scale depending on the volume and speed of traffic using the upgraded road.

The idea is that it will act as an incentive for the operators to conduct essential activities, such as maintenance works, at off-peak periods and to attend accidents quickly.

Project leader Alec Briggs described the payment mechanism as innovative.

It is expected that the contract will be awarded towards the end of the year and construction work should start next April.

Last June, Transport Secretary John Spellar announced the further upgrading of another 24-mile stretch of the A1, from Dishforth to Barton, near Richmond, as part of another £263m package of improvements.

That project is due to be completed in about eight years time when virtually the entire length of the A1 in North Yorkshire will then have been upgraded to motorway status.