27/10/2009 - Hardknott Pass improvements

Cumbria Highways will be carrying out improvements on England’s steepest road next month.

For around two weeks from November 9, Hardknott Pass is going to be undergoing patching works to improve the surface of the road and a redundant cattle grid will also be removed. 

To allow the revamp to take place, the route - in the south of the Lake District –will be closed from the pass’s junction with the U5032 at Cockley Beck for around four kilometres in a westerly direction to Butterilket for the duration of the work and signed diversions in place (see attached map).

Councillor Tony Markley, Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member for highways, said: "We apologise for any inconvenience our improvements may cause but Hardknott Pass is a popular route with both visitors and local people so this is vital work."

An old Roman road, the pass was built to link forts at Waterhead and Ravenglass.

In more recent times it was used as a packhorse route and later as a tank training ground. The present road over the pass only acquired its tarmac surface after the Second World War.

ENDS

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