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jackal wrote:That's a vastly longer route as the A1198 junction is well past Godmanchester.
Its all of 1.5 miles from Wood Green to Godmanchester not exactly a vast difference
The total journey from Alconbury to Godmanchester is not 1.5 miles longer via the new road, but more like 4 miles or 67% longer. That's a pretty big difference.
In fact if I Iived there I would be delighted to lose the existing A14 and viaduct. It is an overpoweringly ugly thing roaring away day and night. Those who live close by hate it with a vengeance and will no doubt be cheering its demolition.
Surely the fact that residents are happy with the HE scheme (including replacement of the viaduct with an at-grade route) counts in its favour? I have no idea what you're trying to say.
Lest we forget, the layout in Huntingdon will be a single carriageway with a dozen or so at-grade junctions - more than enough to deter strategic traffic. Turning the surviving sections of dual carriageway into single carriageway would achieve nothing but aggravation of local road users.
jackal wrote:That's a vastly longer route as the A1198 junction is well past Godmanchester.
Its all of 1.5 miles from Wood Green to Godmanchester not exactly a vast difference
The total journey from Alconbury to Godmanchester is not 1.5 miles longer via the new road, but more like 4 miles or 67% longer. That's a pretty big difference.
In fact if I Iived there I would be delighted to lose the existing A14 and viaduct. It is an overpoweringly ugly thing roaring away day and night. Those who live close by hate it with a vengeance and will no doubt be cheering its demolition.
Surely the fact that residents are happy with the HE scheme (including replacement of the viaduct with an at-grade route) counts in its favour? I have no idea what you're trying to say.
If you want to get from Alconbury to Godmanchester the shortest way possible there is already a quite simple route via Ermine Street through the Stukeley's into Huntingdon and over the old bridge. Some of us remember when that was the main road
That said I really don't see that much through traffic having Godmanchester as a destination. I know the roads around there well and the Big City its not. The reality is most southbound A14 traffic at Alconbury is destined for either Felixstowe or Cambridge and London via the M11. The only business dependent on road transport in the Godmanchester area is the DHL depot and they will still have rapid access to the A14, A1 and M11. In fact for many people in Godmanchester their daily commute will improve. Its a right royal pain getting to the car park at Huntingdon station from Godmanchester at the moment. The new access road is planned to improve this.
As for the railway viaduct I am saying the people of Godmanchester and Huntingdon wanted the 65,000 vehicles per day that pour past their houses 24/7 gone. The river viaduct will remain but be downgraded. Huntingdon council has been adamant throughout the consultation that the railway viaduct had to go. The proposed at grade route is an S2 local access road not a D2 strategic route. At the moment almost 25,000 HGV's and LGV's use the viaduct every day along with 40,000 cars.
I think the biggest drawback (apart from having to cross Huntingdon at grade) is the lack of eastbound slips from the A1198. This means that Godmanchester/Papworth traffic has to go north to Huntingdon if it wishes to reach the A1307 (current A14). I'm always bemused by 'considered' omissions from a junction/road scheme. If lack of slips means there are so few movements it's hardly worthwhile providing for them, fair enough. But then why bother building a junction there at all??
Actually, I lie. I believe there will be eastbound slips, but only for emergency use. The same will apply to the northbound A1307 at Girton (they will be able to use the current on-slips, rather than have to take the LAR past the crem).
I personally think it's an excellent idea that the movement is restricted; it means that Cambridge to Huntingdon traffic will be kept separate from the longer distance traffic. I can't see it being much of an issue for people living in Godmanchester to "have to" use the dual carriageway local access road....
jackal wrote:Lest we forget, the layout in Huntingdon will be a single carriageway with a dozen or so at-grade junctions - more than enough to deter strategic traffic.
But it won't deter strategic traffic, because in large part traffic from out of town won't know about the deliberate bottleneck. A significant proportion of that through traffic will only be occassional users of the route - I, for example, go through there maybe once a year or less. A quick glance at the route map will still look like a through route much shorter than the new route.
Thing is it won't take much through traffic to gum this complex web of junctions up totally.
Berk wrote:I think the biggest drawback (apart from having to cross Huntingdon at grade) is the lack of eastbound slips from the A1198. This means that Godmanchester/Papworth traffic has to go north to Huntingdon if it wishes to reach the A1307 (current A14). I'm always bemused by 'considered' omissions from a junction/road scheme. If lack of slips means there are so few movements it's hardly worthwhile providing for them, fair enough. But then why bother building a junction there at all??
Actually, I lie. I believe there will be eastbound slips, but only for emergency use. The same will apply to the northbound A1307 at Girton (they will be able to use the current on-slips, rather than have to take the LAR past the crem).
Godmanchester is on the new A1307/Current A14 traffic from there can just join the A1307
Traffic heading eastbound from Papworth can either head north and join the A1307 or go south take the A428 to the M11/A14
Originally there was no plan to have a junction at all on the A1198 but concern was raised by locals that to join the A14 westbound or leave it coming east they would either have a long detour or have to go through Huntingdon on the LAR so the current movements were added. Eastbound movements really are not a problem as the D2 A428 south of Papworth provides a perfectly acceptable link to M11/A14 at Girton. There is no equivalent route to the west as the A428 west of Caxton Gibbet is a very congested S2.
Given that I used the Papworth to A1198 route to get to the A14 when heading to the midlands or north via the A14/A1 and the A428 to the M11/A14 when heading east or south this is something I took a lot of interest in
jackal wrote:Lest we forget, the layout in Huntingdon will be a single carriageway with a dozen or so at-grade junctions - more than enough to deter strategic traffic.
But it won't deter strategic traffic, because in large part traffic from out of town won't know about the deliberate bottleneck. A significant proportion of that through traffic will only be occassional users of the route - I, for example, go through there maybe once a year or less. A quick glance at the route map will still look like a through route much shorter than the new route.
Thing is it won't take much through traffic to gum this complex web of junctions up totally.
Derek
The main issue I think will be with southbound traffic - northbound traffic would have to exit the A14, and clearly the signage will indicate that the north and the midlands will be to carry on, and satnavs that aren't updated won't know until it's too late that the driver has left the road. Southbound traffic though will have satnavs telling users to exit at Alconbury as well as users who have always done it. I presume there will be large signs telling users to ignore satnavs and "for Cambridge/Felixtowe/London follow A1" approaching Alconbury...
jackal wrote:Lest we forget, the layout in Huntingdon will be a single carriageway with a dozen or so at-grade junctions - more than enough to deter strategic traffic.
But it won't deter strategic traffic, because in large part traffic from out of town won't know about the deliberate bottleneck. A significant proportion of that through traffic will only be occassional users of the route - I, for example, go through there maybe once a year or less. A quick glance at the route map will still look like a through route much shorter than the new route.
Thing is it won't take much through traffic to gum this complex web of junctions up totally.
Derek
Colour me skeptical, its shorter to go through Gateshead to Scotland than use the A1 western bypass and its certainly shorter to get from the A1 to the A23 if you go through central London (been there done that but it was at 3 AM and before the M25 was built) but I doubt many people do and those who try it will soon learn the error of their ways.
I agree the signage will be important but its not beyond the wit of man to produce a sign that conveys the meaning
A 1307 Huntingdon Town Centre
Use A14 for South and East
There is after all plenty of opportunity on the D4 A1(M) between Peterborough and Alconbury not to mention the massive gantry sign at the split
Slightly tangentially, how come the junction next to Hinchingbrooke School on the B1514 in Huntingdon is grade-separated? It looks similar vintage to the A14 viaduct
jackal wrote:Lest we forget, the layout in Huntingdon will be a single carriageway with a dozen or so at-grade junctions - more than enough to deter strategic traffic.
But it won't deter strategic traffic, because in large part traffic from out of town won't know about the deliberate bottleneck. A significant proportion of that through traffic will only be occassional users of the route - I, for example, go through there maybe once a year or less. A quick glance at the route map will still look like a through route much shorter than the new route.
Thing is it won't take much through traffic to gum this complex web of junctions up totally.
Derek
Colour me skeptical, its shorter to go through Gateshead to Scotland than use the A1 western bypass and its certainly shorter to get from the A1 to the A23 if you go through central London (been there done that but it was at 3 AM and before the M25 was built) but I doubt many people do and those who try it will soon learn the error of their ways.
I agree the signage will be important but its not beyond the wit of man to produce a sign that conveys the meaning
A 1307 Huntingdon Town Centre
Use A14 for South and East
There is after all plenty of opportunity on the D4 A1(M) between Peterborough and Alconbury not to mention the massive gantry sign at the split
After the new road opens I would expect the left lane to be signed something like
A1307
Huntingdon
and the main line
A1(M) London
The Midlands, Felixstowe, Cambridge (A14)
Stansted (M11)
I will leave the pros to do the proper job
Exactly, the notion of a bypass that is longer but much quicker than the direct route is already applied at hundreds of locations in the UK with no obvious difficulties.
KeithW wrote:Colour me skeptical, its shorter to go through Gateshead to Scotland than use the A1 western bypass and its certainly shorter to get from the A1 to the A23 if you go through central London (been there done that but it was at 3 AM and before the M25 was built) but I doubt many people do and those who try it will soon learn the error of their ways.
Which is precisly what I did on my way to Scotland this summer, but perhaps I'm unusual in that regard
jackal wrote:
Exactly, the notion of a bypass that is longer but much quicker than the direct route is already applied at hundreds of locations in the UK with no obvious difficulties.
I don't doubt the vast majority of the traffic will go the new route, but it won't take very much at all to jam up the through route, which is engineered to be very low capacity. Looking at the map the pinch point is very short, between two sections of HD D2
The Brampton Road bridge at the station is already horribly congested at some times of day. I've spent 15 minutes waiting to get out of Huntingdon Station during the evening peak. Adding another two roads into the mix may liberate things, but could also cause chaos.
I am hoping that in the same way that traffic probably stopped using the M45 / A45 to go round Coventry to get to Birmingham and the A48(M) to travel past Cardiff to get to Swansea once the M6 and M4 were built, people will stop going through Huntingdon.
Derek wrote:
Which is precisly what I did on my way to Scotland this summer, but perhaps I'm unusual in that regard :
Derek
In the same way I suspect as I once drove through Stamford and Grantham on a quiet Sunday morning just to break the monotony of yet another thrash up the A1. That said I would assuredly not do that during Friday rush hour. Grantham isnt too bad actually but Stamford even off peak can be a nightmare. As for Gateshead I well remember driving up the Durham Road in the early 70's, the exciting dash along the A167(M) which we thought was shape of things to come, before getting dumped back onto the Great North Road over the Town Moor. The Tyne Tunnel was open but the A19 between Teesside and Jarrow was absolutely rubbish at the time as were the roads on the North Side. If you had told me that by the beginning of the 21st century the A1 would go via the Team Valley I would have thought you were nuts.
Depends what speed they're set to.
I regularly travel between Alconbury and Letchworth. There won't be much NSL left.
I do accept that there will soon be a point in the roadworks when the A1 needs limiting.
B1040 wrote:Depends what speed they're set to.
I regularly travel between Alconbury and Letchworth. There won't be much NSL left.
I do accept that there will soon be a point in the roadworks when the A1 needs limiting.
South of Biggleswade is quite good - and the bits after Black Cat/Sandy. I just wish they were more consistent about limits. E.g. if the limit needs to be reduced for safety reasons, just cut it to 60 throughout. Don't have it swinging from NSL to 50, to 60, to 50 to NSL. And keep other NSL bits as they are.
In case anyone is not aware, the A14 is closed tonight and tomorrow night between Girton and Godmanchester to allow a temporary bridge to be constructed for works traffic to alleviate congestion and delays on the main carriageway
