New £82m Kex Gill Bypass Opens – What It Means for Harrogate Drivers

If you regularly drive from Harrogate towards Skipton, Lancashire or the M6, one of North Yorkshire’s most troublesome stretches of road has just undergone a major transformation.

The long-awaited £82 million Kex Gill bypass has officially opened to traffic today, Tuesday 25 August 2026, creating a safer and more reliable route along the A59 between Harrogate and Skipton.

And for local drivers who have experienced closures, diversions and delays caused by landslips over the years, it is a significant moment.

🚗 Why this matters if you live in Harrogate

The A59 is one of the Harrogate district’s most important routes west.

It connects Harrogate with Skipton and provides an important onward link towards Lancashire and the M6, while connecting in the opposite direction with the A1(M).

The old Kex Gill section had become notorious for problems.

Since 2000 it has suffered 15 landslips, causing repeated road closures and costing more than £6 million in repairs.

The new 4.2km (2.6-mile) route takes traffic away from the unstable section.

👀 What will drivers notice?

If you are heading along the A59 from Harrogate, the journey through Kex Gill will now look very different.

The new road includes three lanes, including a crawler lane designed to help slower-moving vehicles without holding up other traffic.

However, the entire project isn’t quite finished yet.

Two of the three lanes are currently available, and a temporary 30mph speed limit is in force while final connections and landscaping are completed.

So if you’re heading that way over the coming weeks, allow for ongoing works.

🌳 It’s not just about cars

One of the less obvious parts of the £82m project is the amount of work taking place around the road itself.

More than 12,700 native trees have been planted, alongside:

• Wildflower planting
• New wildlife habitats
• Balancing ponds
• Biodiversity improvements
• Around 4km of natural stone walls
• New routes for walkers
• New routes for cyclists and horse riders

The landscaping has been designed to complement the surrounding Nidderdale National Landscape.

🏗️ Three years in the making

Construction started three years ago and became the largest highways project ever undertaken by North Yorkshire Council.

Building a major new road through this remote landscape was never going to be straightforward, with difficult terrain and poor weather contributing to delays.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for highways and transportation, Cllr Malcolm Taylor, said:

“This is a moment that we have been aiming for throughout such a complex and detailed highways project.”

He said the new road would bring major benefits to communities across North Yorkshire and the wider North of England.

📍 Why Kex Gill is so important to Harrogate

You might think of the A59 simply as the road from Harrogate to Skipton, but its importance goes much further.

It forms part of a major east-west route linking junction 47 of the A1(M) with junction 31 of the M6.

That makes it important not only for local commuters but also for businesses, freight, tourism and visitors travelling across North Yorkshire.

⭐ Kex Gill bypass – the key facts

£82 million – cost of the project
4.2km – length of the new road
15 landslips – recorded on the old route since 2000
£6m+ – spent repairing landslip damage
12,700+ trees – planted around the scheme
3 lanes – including a crawler lane
30mph – temporary speed limit while work is completed

🚘 Have you driven the new road yet?

For generations of drivers, the A59 across Kex Gill has been an essential but sometimes unpredictable journey between Harrogate and Skipton.

The opening of the new route should finally provide something local motorists have wanted for years: a more dependable journey across North Yorkshire.

Have you travelled along the new Kex Gill bypass yet? What did you think – and will it make a difference to your journeys from Harrogate?