Last updated 12:03, Saturday, 04 October 2008

Motorists around Britain are well versed in enduring delays. But a wait of more than 30 years is exceptional for even the most battle-scarred driver.

The people of west Cumbria, north Cumbria and Scotland – anyone, in fact, who wishes to travel by road between west Cumbria and anywhere north of Carlisle – have suffered enough.

Their tortuous journey to and from west Cumbria entails a drive between Kingstown in the far north of Carlisle, through the city centre and along Castle Way and the western suburbs.

Every day the city’s own traffic is joined by thousands of vehicles which would never have been there if a bypass looping around the west of Carlisle had been built.

“Long-awaited” hardly begins to describe the clamour for this road.

And now the Franco-Belgian bank funding the bypass has been hit by the credit crunch and saved only by a Government bailout.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. This is, after all, the road whose most recent delays were caused by floods and great crested newts.

Even if the finance is confirmed there will still be politicians to impress before spade can make contact with ground – this after decades of debate.

Frustrating, to say the least, that construction projects in this country take an eternity and inevitably lead to initial cost estimates having a nought or two tagged on the end during their delay.

Carlisle’s western bypass is a key to Cumbria’s prosperity, and would open up the whole of west Cumbria to improved transport links to the rest of Europe and beyond.

Strong transport links are essential in ensuring the county is ready to come out of recession with a bang rather than a whimper.