Ruth talks to Highways England about the A428

for Cambourne, has been talking to Highways England about the A428 single lane issue at Girton. She has criticised the organisation over its plans to leave the A428 at Girton as a single carriageway.

Ruth Betson, one of our District Councillors for Cambourne, has been talking to Highways England about the A428 single lane issue at Girton.  Here's her report:

There’s annoying news and news with potentially a silver lining...

The annoying news is, at the moment, the single lane is there to stay.  The A14 is 60-70% done and they are on budget and on target to complete as planned in 2020.

The news with a potential silver lining is the other lanes (dual carriageway A428) haven’t been removed yet… they have been covered over and won’t be used, but they have not been destroyed.

I think this is in recognition that the traffic modelling for the A14 project was done in 2014.  At the time they took into account known housing development projects, but couldn’t have foreseen the OxCam ARC project, which will generate a lot more development and hence traffic increase (32 to 40% according to the Highways England website).  It is “not off the table to look at the Girton end of the A428 again”.

The Highways England team I met, with Heidi Allen MP, recognise communication hasn’t been their strong point and they have committed to keeping us better up to date.

I have volunteered to be a conduit for them to get information out to residents and I will post it on my Facebook page as soon as I hear more.

They will also invite me to a meeting once modelling has been done on the OxCam project.  This will enable me to feed back concerns or questions you may have at the time.

Other information to pass on to you:

  • This month there will be a consultation on the motorway status of the A14 with regards to the section between Girton and Alconbury.
  • The A14 construction at Bar Hill will in all likelihood generate more traffic on the A428 temporarily.
  • The A428 dualling project between Caxton Gibbet and Black Cat, which was delayed because of the OxCam discussions, will go out to consultation again this year, and they plan to start construction in 2021.

Last July Ruth criticised Highways England intransience over the A428 / Girton interchange – which led to Cam TV interviewing her.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ruth Betson

Ruth Betson
District Councillor, Bourn Ward:
         South Cambs Hall
         South Cambridgeshire District Council
         Cambourne Business Park
         Cambourne
         CB23 6EA

E-mail
       cllr.betson@scambs.gov.uk

Facebook
       www.facebook.com/CllrRuthBetson

Twitter
       @RuthBetson

▲

You may also be interested in