The 138 objections to plans to upgrade the A1 between Dishforth and Barton to a three-lane motorway will not, we hope, derail the long-awaited project.

In suggesting this, we do not belittle the sincere and real concerns individuals and organisations have about aspects of the upgrading, but nothing should get in the way of the North-East's most important road improevement scheme since the construction of the A19.

Plans to make the dual carriageway a modern motorway were first unveiled in 1991 after a persistent campaign by the business sector worried about the increasing congestion and safety groups concerned about the problem of high-volume, high-speed traffic and poor quality junctions. The mix of vehicles on the road - cars, lorries and farm traffic - was, and obviously still is, a source of accidents, often fatal.

The scheme was shelved in a round of public expenditure cuts five years later, but those concerns about the road's ability to cope with the growing traffic volumes safely have increased in the last 10 years..

This time, however, the Government appears committed to going ahead with the £325m project which will, at long last, connect the North-East to the national motorway network. The importance of this connection to the region should not be underestimated. It is crucial to efforts to improve the economic performance of both Yorkshire and the North-East, which persistently lags behind other parts of the UK, particularly the South-East.

The public inquiry into the objections to the upgrade, which opens at Scotch Corner on Monday, will no doubt give a fair hearing to very localised concerns. It is to be hoped amendments to the detailed design of the new road may be accommodated to resolve at least some of those objections. However, almost inevitably, some concerns will not be met. This may be an occasion when the needs of the wider region will take precedence over local issues.