PLANS to bring dual carriageways to the A590 are in the pipeline after northern transport leaders announced a £5bn programme of potential works.

Plans to upgrade the road make up a raft of transport projects set to be considered in the north of England.

Among them are plans for an Ulverston A590 bypass and dual carriageways along the road.

But Transport for the North bosses say the plans will only be considered past 2033.

In the shorter term, other improvements to the A590 have been set aside between the next two and fours years.

The projects were announced by Transport for the North, which has called on the Government to ‘rebuild and transform’ the north’ through its Northern Infrastructure Pipeline of road and rail projects.

There are also plans to improve the frequency of rail routes between Barrow and Lancaster and Barrow to Manchester.

Councillor Keith Little, Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member for transport, said: “There are lot of schemes we have put forward.

“We’ve got some funding for some schemes.

“These routes are vitally important.

“We’ll have to see where we can benefit.”

Councillor Matt Brereton, who represents High Furness on the county council, said improving the A590 could be complicated.

He said: “One of the longer issues for the road is dualling. But it’s not straightforward.

“To do the work would be disruptive.

“Planning for after 2033 does seem a bit pathetic.

“We don’t how the roads will be then, we don’t know what kind of vehicles people will be using.”

Transport for the North (TfN) said that its plans would create up to 20,000 construction and design jobs and deliver a £3 return on investment for every £1 spent.

Cumbria County Council said the projects were a ‘comprehensive programme of works to improve strategic connectivity of the route through sections of additional dualling, passing lanes and bypasses including at Ulverston’.

“This would provide significantly better links to the energy and manufacturing clusters in south Cumbria," said the spokesman.

On the Furness Line, it said it also hoped for ‘electrification of Furness Line together with line speed and signal improvements', adding: "This can reduce travel to work time and complement major investments planned in Furness and west Cumbria and the visitor economy.

“Enhancements could be phased with line speed improvements important in the immediate term.”