The appointment of Berwick MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan as transport secretary has reignited the decades-long campaign to dual the A1 in north Northumberland.
Ms Trevelyan, who has served as MP for Berwick since 2015, was appointed to the role by new Prime Minister Liz Truss on Tuesday, replacing Grant Shapps.
There have long been calls to improve the A1 in the county, which is a single carriageway for long stretches once it passes Morpeth.
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In June, Mr Shapps asked for another six months before making a decision on plans to dual 13 miles of the route in the county between Morpeth and Ellingham. However, residents and councillors are now hopeful that Ms Trevelyan's new role will mean the much-needed project will finally be completed, and the A1 will be dualled as far as Berwick on the Scottish border.
Liberal Democrat councillor Isabel Hunter, who represents Berwick West with Ord on Northumberland County Council, runs a haulage business. She explained why the upgrade is so desperately needed.
Coun Hunter said: "It's very important, we need it dualled. I was travelling on it the other week and when you get to Haggerston, it was 20mph from Haggerston to Belford (a distance of seven miles).
"The queue was so long I couldn't see the front of it, and there are cars coming the other way so you can't overtake even one at a time.
"Alan Beith was MP for 40 years and he was trying to dual the road. We've had Anne-Marie in for seven years now too. I lost my Dad in the 70s - he was a lorry driver - and he said it would never be done in my lifetime - so it's gone back years.
"I run a haulage business and it all gets held up. It's a nightmare."
Coun Hunter said she was hopeful that the road would be dualled following the MP's move to transport - and warned that the people of the town would be unhappy if it wasn't done.
She continued: "Hopefully now that Anne-Marie is the transport secretary we might get the A1 dualled. If she doesn't, I think there will be some complaints from residents.
"She has no excuse. She is the minister, she needs to do it."
Ms Trevelyan's office was contacted for comment on the issue, but did not respond by our deadline. In a statement issued on Tuesday following the announcement she would be moving to transport, she said: "I am absolutely thrilled to be appointed Transport Secretary. Transport is crucial to all of our lives - bringing people together, creating jobs and connecting the UK with the world.
"I look forward to getting to work on the many challenges and opportunities Transport brings. Under the stewardship of Prime Minister Truss, we will bring the great British transport sector into the 21st century."
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