A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

[KeithW]

Its coming along well now.

The only thing will be the abrupt change of quality when the A1(M) goes back to the A1 at Buckden.

I think this will accelerate calls for the A1 to be finished; either upgrading Buckden to Black Cat, or the whole thing to Baldock as a blue line. Its great the A14 getting improved but will likely funnel more traffic down the M11 which is only 2 lanes until you get to Stanstead.

The quality of the A1 at Buckden already falls pretty dramatically so I don't really see that happening to be honest. You may get a small increase in traffic heading south from the A1(M) to the M11 due to lower congestion on the A14 but I doubt it will be a major effect. Anybody using the M11 to get to east London avoiding the Black Cat is likely already doing it.

[dcrc2]

There's been another traffic switch at Girton: if you're travelling on the A14 westbound, you now merge with the M11 much earlier than before. You still have the 270-degree loop and the nasty crossover with M11->A14(E) traffic, but you now join the M11 immediately after that crossover, rather than following the extended sliproad down to the A1307. The new merge is a lane gain, taking you on to what was the hard shoulder of the M11.

This means that A14 WB traffic no longer crosses the line of the future LAR, so perhaps we will soon see the LAR connected up.

[kiran_mk2]

Another change - the new bridge at Swavesey has been opened to traffic. The old bridge has been closed but the original slip roads remain (and likely will until the new A14 carriageway is constructed). I believe the old bridge will be taken down across the weekend of 17/18th November and will require a full A14 closure.

[ManomayLR]

Is there any sign of MS4s or lane control signs popping up?

[KeithW]

Is there any sign of MS4s or lane control signs popping up?

I would be surprised if there were, this sort of thing is installed towards the end of a project. Its too easy and costly to accidentally damage. At most you put the civils in to mount it on.

[ManomayLR]

Is there any sign of MS4s or lane control signs popping up?

I would be surprised if there were, this sort of thing is installed towards the end of a project. Its too easy and costly to accidentally damage. At most you put the civils in to mount it on.

Point taken.

[darkcape]

Gantries are up at the Brampton end but no technology until near the end. And yes, MS4s and AMIs will be going up.

[Berk]

*EpicChef goes gaga in delight*

[ManomayLR]

*EpicChef goes gaga in delight*

Quite. I mean I'm excited, we haven't seen new motorway builds since the 70s!!! I'm always confused as to why the A1M from Leeming to Barton didn't automatically get ALR and instead got a hard shoulder?

[c2R]

*EpicChef goes gaga in delight*

Quite. I mean I'm excited, we haven't seen new motorway builds since the 70s!!! I'm always confused as to why the A1M from Leeming to Barton didn't automatically get ALR and instead got a hard shoulder?

Because the projects were really all planned and started before the current craze, and land costs are much lower there than on the southern section of the M1 or around the major cities where ALR is going on

[Berk]

Not entirely true, inasmuch as Smart Motorways have been the biggest share of HE and government spending on roads in the past decade.

[Stevie D]

I'm always confused as to why the A1M from Leeming to Barton didn't automatically get ALR and instead got a hard shoulder?

When building a new motorway, the cost of including a hard shoulder on a 3-lane motorway compared with having a smart 3-lane motorway with no hard shoulder is small. One of the main reasons that ALR/SM is popular for adding capacity to existing motorways is that it is cheaper to retro-fit, and therefore more cost effective when the motorway is already there. For the A1(M), that wasn't the case, it was a new build so it was relatively easy to build it with the hard shoulder. It also means that it will be easier to upgrade to 4-lane smartoway in the future if that additional capacity is needed.

And it may well also be that the road was planned long before ALR/SM was such a big thing and the plans never got updated...

[Berk]

And it may well also be that the road was planned long before ALR/SM was such a big thing and the plans never got updated...

That’s almost certainly the case, because the Leemimg-Barton scheme was planned 10-15 years ago.

[Johnathan404]

I'm always confused as to why the A1M from Leeming to Barton didn't automatically get ALR and instead got a hard shoulder?

Classic SABRE member error: looking for logic where there is none.

Road improvements have always been inconsistent with each other and I wouldn't expect that to start changing now.

[ManomayLR]

I'm always confused as to why the A1M from Leeming to Barton didn't automatically get ALR and instead got a hard shoulder?

For the A1(M), that wasn't the case, it was a new build so it was relatively easy to build it with the hard shoulder. It also means that it will be easier to upgrade to 4-lane smartoway in the future if that additional capacity is needed.

And it may well also be that the road was planned long before ALR/SM was such a big thing and the plans never got updated...

Then they should have pre-fitted gateway gantries with MS4 and AMI/MS1 lane control signs (advisory for now) so that all an SM upgrade would take is the breaking of the hard shoulder line and construction of ERAs.

[Jeni]

I'm always confused as to why the A1M from Leeming to Barton didn't automatically get ALR and instead got a hard shoulder?

For the A1(M), that wasn't the case, it was a new build so it was relatively easy to build it with the hard shoulder. It also means that it will be easier to upgrade to 4-lane smartoway in the future if that additional capacity is needed.

And it may well also be that the road was planned long before ALR/SM was such a big thing and the plans never got updated...

Then they should have pre-fitted gateway gantries with MS4 and AMI/MS1 lane control signs (advisory for now) so that all an SM upgrade would take is the breaking of the hard shoulder line and construction of ERAs.

By the time that an upgrade would be needed there, the technology would be end of life and needed replacing anyway

[c2R]

I'm always confused as to why the A1M from Leeming to Barton didn't automatically get ALR and instead got a hard shoulder?

For the A1(M), that wasn't the case, it was a new build so it was relatively easy to build it with the hard shoulder. It also means that it will be easier to upgrade to 4-lane smartoway in the future if that additional capacity is needed.

And it may well also be that the road was planned long before ALR/SM was such a big thing and the plans never got updated...

Then they should have pre-fitted gateway gantries with MS4 and AMI/MS1 lane control signs (advisory for now) so that all an SM upgrade would take is the breaking of the hard shoulder line and construction of ERAs.

Why? That would have increased cost and land take.Given this was built properly, i.e. with lots of lanes and "A" road LAR which itself bypasses towns and villages, it's not likely that this section is going to become overloaded and require ALR overnight - it might be 20 or 30 years down the line, and with the pace of technology change over the last 30 it's likely that anything that is built would be superseded by technological change.

[mikehindsonevans]

For the A1(M), that wasn't the case, it was a new build so it was relatively easy to build it with the hard shoulder. It also means that it will be easier to upgrade to 4-lane smartoway in the future if that additional capacity is needed.

And it may well also be that the road was planned long before ALR/SM was such a big thing and the plans never got updated...

Then they should have pre-fitted gateway gantries with MS4 and AMI/MS1 lane control signs (advisory for now) so that all an SM upgrade would take is the breaking of the hard shoulder line and construction of ERAs.

Why? That would have increased cost and land take.Given this was built properly, i.e. with lots of lanes and "A" road LAR which itself bypasses towns and villages, it's not likely that this section is going to become overloaded and require ALR overnight - it might be 20 or 30 years down the line, and with the pace of technology change over the last 30 it's likely that anything that is built would be superseded by technological change.

May I table this for a review in 2023?

[c2R]

Then they should have pre-fitted gateway gantries with MS4 and AMI/MS1 lane control signs (advisory for now) so that all an SM upgrade would take is the breaking of the hard shoulder line and construction of ERAs.

Why? That would have increased cost and land take.Given this was built properly, i.e. with lots of lanes and "A" road LAR which itself bypasses towns and villages, it's not likely that this section is going to become overloaded and require ALR overnight - it might be 20 or 30 years down the line, and with the pace of technology change over the last 30 it's likely that anything that is built would be superseded by technological change.

May I table this for a review in 2023?

Ha, you can do, but the numbers to back this up.... M11 J6-J7 is D3M and no LAR with 2014 AADT of about 120,000. 2014 AADT for the A1(M) A61-A684 is 42,000 with a further 4,000 on the S2 LAR.

Traffic on the A1 will of course grow with improvements to the A66 and improvements to the A1 between Barton and Newcastle, but I'd say it's clear that there's a lot of capacity that could be used before it gets anywhere near needing ALR...

[Chris5156]

Quite. I mean I'm excited, we haven't seen new motorway builds since the 70s!!!

Except for most of the A1(M), M20, M25, M40, M65, M77, M80, A74(M), large parts of the M3, the entire M6 Toll...