North Yorkshire County Council's Ryedale area committee was told by Highways Agency boss Andrew Brown at a meeting held in Pickering that the sum will be spent on a chain of schemes along the road to improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists and bus passengers.

But Cllr Andrew Backhouse and Cllr David Jeffels said the upgrade will do little to decrease the number of accidents on the A64.

Cllr Backhouse, a Conservative, parish, borough and county councillor for Lindhead said: "This £4.5 million is something that has been thrown at it to try and pacify people who have been calling for great improvements and necessary improvements. It is nothing, barely a token gesture."

Eighteen months ago Cllr Backhouse set up a petition on the Number 10 website calling for the A64 to be fully dualled.

He believed visitors and new businesses were put off coming to the area due to traffic congestion caused by single-lane sections of the A64. He hoped local people would add their names and increase the pressure for improvements to be made – but less than 1,000 people signed up.

Scarborough, Ryedale and North Yorkshire County councils have been working on a long-running campaign calling for the road to be dualled.

However, the Highways Agency has said it could cost more than £500 mill-ion and the Regional Transport Board has not included it in its list of priorities up until 2016

Cllr Jeffels said: "We probably accept that we aren't going to get what most people would desire –- a fully-blown dual carriageway – but a lot of other improvements could be made.

"The stretch of road between Seamer and Rillington is where drivers have great difficulty in overtaking. It is quite narrow and I do feel it could be widened."

He added: "The road does have a bad accident record and it is a problem that is only going to get worse in the future. With the Sands project and the investment going on at Scarborough Business Park the demand for upgrade is going to increase. Until that happens, we are going to see more serious road accidents.

The biggest upgrade, costing £1.1 million, will see the pavement between Scampston and Knapton renewed, while a further £400,000 will be invested in a cycle-way between Knapton and West Heslerton.