Safety improvements along a section of the A590 are not affordable, road chiefs said.
Operations director of National Highways Jonathan Reade told members of the highways and transport committee for Westmorland and Furness Council it would cost an estimated £20 million to carry out improvements at Gilpin Bridge.
National Highways accepted it was an area of concern and was a priority, but the organisation does not have the necessary funds to build the scheme, said Mr Reade.
Cabinet member for climate and biodiversity councillor Giles Archibald (Kendal Strickland and Fell) said he had never been so frightened as when he was turning onto the A590 at Gilpin Bridge.
In recent years there have been numerous accidents at that junction.
In 2021 four people were seriously injured in a crash involving a car and a cement lorry, and in a separate incident, an 80-year-old cyclist was killed. On January 2 this year a man in his 20s died as a result of a crash between a Jaguar car and a delivery van.
Councillor Janet Battye (Levens and Crooklands, Lib Dems) previously urged National Highways to carry out significant work to the road at Gilpin Bridge.
She previously said: “What we want to see is some significant work done to it, probably a roundabout where the Lyth Valley Road, the A5074, joins the A590 to make it safer for people to come on and off of the A590 and if they do that at the same time they will be looking at crossover points hopefully for Levens to make it safer for people to get on and off the A590.
“The A590 is the only way to Barrow, but with the combination of business traffic, holidaymakers and local traffic, if anything happens on that road, everything stops.”
Mr Reade also spoke of the level of investment carried out on the A590 over the last few years.
He told the committee in the financial year 2021/22 National Highways carried out around £10.5 million of work on the road and this financial year £6.8 million of improvements will take place in total.
Among work carried out this year includes alterations to road markings and extra traffic signs at Newby Bridge garage, removal of the highway boundary hedge approaching the garage, changes to the signed speed limit at three locations and the installation of average speed cameras between Greenodd and Ayside.
Other work includes resurfacing the eastbound carriageway between the Meathop roundabout and where the dual carriageway ends near Witherslack.
A spokesman for National Highways previously said: “The safety of road users and people living alongside our roads is our priority. We routinely review the operation of our major A roads and motorways to ensure they are operating as safely as possible.
“We are committed to involving local people in that process and have a track record of improving safety along the route with recent examples including the £10 million Cross-a-Moor project – during which we replaced the staggered junction with a roundabout – and our ongoing £900,000 package of safety improvements between Greenodd and Newby Bridge.
“We will continue to listen and review the safety of the A590 and look for opportunities to make improvements in the next 2025 to 2030 Road Investment Strategy period.”
