RESIDENTS, traders and motorists are celebrating following the opening of a £5.9 million junction designed to alleviate one of North Yorkshire’s most notorious congestion hotspots.
 

After an eight-year campaign by Ryedale and North Yorkshire councillors and residents, the new slip road at Brambling Field will allow eastbound traffic to use the A64 to bypass Malton to reach Norton, without having to pass through the centre of Malton and over the River Derwent and York-Scarborough railway line.
 

It has been forecast the new juction will reduce traffic passing through Butcher Corner in Malton by up to 30 per cent.
 

Congestion associated with the route to Norton led to Malton’s centre being designated an Air Quality Management Area and was providing an effective block to potential new investment, jobs and development in Malton and Norton.
 

Work on the Brambling Field junction improvement, which followed the signing of legal agreements with the Highways Agency by the funding partners, Ryedale District Council and North Yorkshire County Council, included significant earthworks and started in January 2012.
 

North Yorkshire County Council will monitor traffic levels at the junction and on roads around Malton and Norton for at least six months before considering possible traffic management and pollution-cutting measures in the towns.
 

Councillor Keith Knaggs, leader of Ryedale District Council, said: ”This new slip road means we can improve the air quality in Malton town centre, make it a better and safer place for business and shopping and bring forward new jobs and homes for Ryedale people.”