The county council has submitted plans to upgrade the A595 at two major pinchpoints between Carlisle and Cockermouth.
Transport chiefs want to widen the road to provide new crawler lanes for lorries and slow traffic.
One would be built heading west, up the hill at Bothel. It would also include redeveloping the junction with the A591.
Another crawler lane is planned for eastbound traffic up the hill by the CEMEX quarry at Moota.
The scheme is still in its very early stages. It was only sent in to the Department of Transport this week and there is no guarantee it will be approved, though the county’s MPs have all backed it.
If it does get the green light, it would then have to go out to public consultation.
The bid is to the National Productivity Investment Fund and any requests usually need match-funding.
County council leader Stewart Young said: “There is no one going to give us match-funding for that type of work but we have put a bid in anyway, to see what they say.”
The improvement scheme for the A595 comes as Conservative MPs John Stevenson and Trudy Harrison are lobbying for improvements to the A595 and the A69, and rail links between east and west Cumbria.
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