A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

[Glom]

The fact that it is going to be freeflow charging will help a little. The very fact of not having to have correct change etc and have your run interrupted will make the burden seem less heavy.

[B1040]

I am fairly local - Huntingdon is one of my shopping towns, but I avoid that bit of A14 as it is often stretched to the limit. While it is possible to drive at 60-70 on that section, there is a high probability of it being congested and moving much slower. My contribution to the road is to avoid it by taking an alternative route (B1050 or the busway) into Cambridge to leave the A14 free for long distance traffic.

A lot of work is ongoing on strengthening the viaduct.
During the rush hour, Brampton Road is often quite heavily congested, and doesn't really need extra traffic. There is probably just enough space to squeeze a single carriageway road down the Eastern side of the station carpark - if the carpark was reduced in size this could be wider. It would reduce a bit of Huntingdon's town centre green space and seriously reduce the value of a number of houses. The northbound road could come off Brampton road.

On the atlas page, there is going to be an apparently unbroken DC along the current route of the A14. I would expect a significant volume of traffic to remain on the old road and to try to pile over the B1514 bridge which is S2. This will make it harder to get to the station, a large secondary school, Hinchingbrooke Hospital, police and fire headquarters as well as a big housing development. I suspect that local government leaders have been put in a half Nelson. There have been a lot of calls for the road to be improved in the local paper, but few calls for the demolition of the expensively refurbished viaduct.

The new route sould also give benefits as the Brampton Hut and Spittals roundabouts would be bypassed. There seem to be a lot of accidents at spittals involving lorries failing to negotiate the roundabout and slip roads.

(Incidentally there was a bit in the local paper that the busway has not reduced traffic on the A14)

[B1040]

The fact that it is going to be freeflow charging will help a little. The very fact of not having to have correct change etc and have your run interrupted will make the burden seem less heavy.

I agree there - the big burden of Dartford is the queue to pay.

[SteveA30]

I've done the survey, with 'no toll' and 'keep bridge with weight limit' comments throughout. For those who wish to maintain anonymity, you can do the first page with single numbers and letters, even for the postcode. Email and phone numbers not needed either.

Yours
D of 6 H St P HE24

[JohnnyMo]

Quick Question -- Incase I'm being stupid
Why does this cost £1.5B it is just a D3 not even a D3(M).

Alconbury to Peterborough cost £128M, and is D4(M) incase it ever needed future proofing, so this is about twice as long 25 miles rather than 13 and prices have doubled since 1998, so should cost 4 times as much say £500M

So why is this 3 times the cost in real terms as the A1(M) upgrade?

[c2R]

The land's more expensive, the junctions are more complex, and it needs to cross a river and a railway.

[echowarning]

Quick Question -- Incase I'm being stupid
Why does this cost £1.5B it is just a D3 not even a D3(M).

Alconbury to Peterborough cost £128M, and is D4(M) incase it ever needed future proofing, so this is about twice as long 25 miles rather than 13 and prices have doubled since 1998, so should cost 4 times as much say £500M

So why is this 3 times the cost in real terms as the A1(M) upgrade?

Actually, inflation hasn't made prices double at all since 1998 - £128mil then is around £193mil now, which actually increases the difference. - call it £200 million and then double it for increased length and we're at £400mil - a big difference you'd think...

However, the A1(M) scheme is pretty simple - D4(M) mostly, simple junctions. Easy.

This scheme? 25 miles, major junction work at the A1 end, significant rebuild of Girton, plus everything to tie it all in with the by-pass etc, and then major works on the old A14 to reconfigure it etc.

I can easily see that hitting £1.5billion.

[t1(M)]

The fact that it is going to be freeflow charging will help a little. The very fact of not having to have correct change etc and have your run interrupted will make the burden seem less heavy.

I agree there - the big burden of Dartford is the queue to pay.

How will freeflow charging work on a major trunk route where much of the traffic will be one-off trips? If access from the A1 to the M11 is to be tolled (and include a new dogleg), expect a lot of traffic to stay on the A1 to London - with much congestion at the Black cat and the other roundabouts.

[JohnnyMo]

Thanks -- I didn't ask the question at the end of the survey just pointed out many of the current problems with the A14 were caused by penny pinching in the past.

Also very much against tolling, just means about half the traffic will scatter through Cambridgeshire so the objective of removing congestion and improving safety won't be meet.

[Chris5156]

I've done the survey, with 'no toll' and 'keep bridge with weight limit' comments throughout. For those who wish to maintain anonymity, you can do the first page with single numbers and letters, even for the postcode. Email and phone numbers not needed either.

Yours
D of 6 H St P HE24

I think there's a good chance your survey form will be discarded. The web page might be happy with a single letter for your name but I bet the human being interpreting the consultation won't - if they require names and addresses (and they do, because the form won't let you proceed with empty boxes), I expect they will throw away entries like this that don't have them.

[JohnnyMo]

The fact that it is going to be freeflow charging will help a little. The very fact of not having to have correct change etc and have your run interrupted will make the burden seem less heavy.

I agree there - the big burden of Dartford is the queue to pay.

How will freeflow charging work on a major trunk route where much of the traffic will be one-off trips? If access from the A1 to the M11 is to be tolled (and include a new dogleg), expect a lot of traffic to stay on the A1 to London - with much congestion at the Black cat and the other roundabouts.

From next year the toll booths on the Dartford crossing will be removed, you will have upto the end of the next day to text your registration or log on to the website and pay.

After that your registration details will be retrieved from the DVLA and a penalty notice sent.
http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/road-p ... g-project/

[M56phil]

I have a question in all this confusion.....
It's actually to do with the A1, not the A14...

Will the extension of the A1 south of alconbury be classified as D3 'A1' or a D3 A1(M)???? It seems stupid to go from a d2 A1, D3 A1, D3M A1(M) then a D4 A1(M) in the space of about 5 or 6 miles......!!!

Hopefully, we might get two or three more miles of blue line on the map!!! It would make sense to me.....

[Gav]

They are determined to bring in tolling. Its a way to riase money.

However the M6 Toll shows that this is not a viable measure in providing a traffic solution. Not as long as there is a viable alternative route availiable. So what happens to the ferry traffic heading for the east cost ports ? It reroutes - will go to other ports if possible. Anything to cut costs on the long term.
The tolled road succeeds in reducing traffic in the immediate area by dispersing traffic to any other availaible route. Not by actually carrying the traffic.

Ive used the M6 toll and the M6 proper a few times and even though they put up those congestion signs you still get traffic using the M6 rather than pay the toll. The M6 toll is very quiet for a D3M and its getting quieter. Do people really want to save 20-30 mins on a long distance journey ? I know if its a one off then Id probably use it but every day ? thats an extra £80 a month - 40 trips at £2 and I know thats a hefty amount for a private motorist to pay.... Id not be particularly happy. Im just glad I dont need to make that trip on a regular basis.

When people add up just how much these tolls cost them then they see exactly what a rip off it is. Would it not be better incorporating those fees in the vehicle excise duty charge or as a tax on petrol ? You may not directly drive on the road but you generally benefit from a good road infrastructure and that should be aknowledged.

[PeterA5145]

From next year the toll booths on the Dartford crossing will be removed, you will have up to the end of the next day to text your registration or log on to the website and pay.

So you're a foreign tourist who has switched their phone off in the UK to avoid roaming charges. How does that work, then?

[echowarning]

From next year the toll booths on the Dartford crossing will be removed, you will have up to the end of the next day to text your registration or log on to the website and pay.

So you're a foreign tourist who has switched their phone off in the UK to avoid roaming charges. How does that work, then?

Use the wifi in your hotel and the website one would assume.

[Glom]

So what are they going to do at Girton then? Anything interesting?

[Big L]

£1 to start. Yes I remember the M6 Toll when it open was £2, didnt take long for that to rise.

And removing the railway bridge is wrong. In France there is always a sensible alternative to the Autoroute, this approcah will cause congstion in Huntingdon or force people to pay £1

The M6 Toll was £3 to start, with a £1 discount for the first million(?) users.

[A303Paul]

If they toll it, people will just use the A428 and A1 instead, the St Neots area will be a barrel of laughs.

I wish they would do it D3M properly, without a toll, and call it the M11 & A1(M).

[Burwellian]

So what are they going to do at Girton then? Anything interesting?

Slide 4 which kinda looks like a bodge to me

[woyteck]

Maybe then a 3T weight limit on the bridge will solve HGV noise, bridge life, and avoid most traffic diverting through the town centre.

This viaduct is at the moment being strenghtened.
And the idea is that it will last until then new A14 bypass is opened.

But it itself is a nuisance for people in Hundingdon. there is a height limit on the road below the viaduct and it's in a very unfortunate place (I think that building it on top of an existing viaduct over railway was just to show off that it can be done, but it's a bummer to maintain, hence the repairs taking so long).
If the weight limit is added then it may be used for longer. however they should also impose speed limit on it.

(Speaking from my experience with communist era poor material built viaducts in my home city. After 40 years, thye are falling apart and are to be demolished.)