County to fund Bedale, Aiskew and Leeming Bar bypass
A multimillion-pound scheme has been approved by North Yorkshire County Council to allow traffic to skirt a town in the county.
Officials have agreed to pay £6.5m towards the cost of a three-mile £42.4m Bedale bypass.
Councillors said the scheme was "essential" and would benefit Bedale, Aiskew and Leeming Bar.
County Council officials said traffic flow on the existing road was close to 14,000 vehicles a day.
In a statement the council said a consultation exercise in 2009 found "a large proportion of people living in Bedale, Aiskew and Leeming Bar were in favour of a bypass".
Councillor Gareth Dadd, responsible for highways at North Yorkshire County Council, said: "We think it is right now to move forward to the next stage in the process.
"But we live in an austere economic climate, and the scheme will be constantly reviewed throughout this process to ensure costs do not escalate to a point where they become unviable."
He added: "As well as being of obvious immediate benefit to Bedale and its surrounding communities, the bypass will make access to the northern Dales - one of the heartlands of the hugely important North Yorkshire visitor and tourism economy - very much safer and easier."