This stretch of road has now undergone a series of improvements and route alignments. In the mid-1970s, the A591 'Kendal link road' was built between Junction 36 of the M6 and Kendal with an extension of the A590 also being constructed to join this as part of the wider Lancashire expressways plans. This improvement to the A590 also included a realignment and dualling of the road to the west as far as High Newton, by-passing Lindale. In the mid-1990s the A590 was extended eastward through a re-numbering of the A591 between Sizergh and the M6, providing a single road between Barrow-in-Furness and the M6.