A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

[Robert Kilcoyne]

I would be hoping for big red signs screaming NO ACCESS TO CAMBRIDGE or similar.

The signage on the southbound A1(M) before the Alconbury turnoff will be very important.

At least two signs must make clear that traffic for Cambridge, Felixstowe and Stansted should stay on the A1. They should be placed before both the Alconbury and Brampton Hut exits.

[6637]

Must say I'm a bit surprised the HA haven't decided to completely close the bit of the old A14 between Spittals and Huntingdon. It's not much use once the new A14 is open, and closing it would result in a nice open green space between Stukeley Meadows and Hinchingbrooke. Closing it would also further discourage through traffic from using the old route.

[Alderpoint]

Must say I'm a bit surprised the HA haven't decided to completely close the bit of the old A14 between Spittals and Huntingdon. It's not much use once the new A14 is open, and closing it would result in a nice open green space between Stukeley Meadows and Hinchingbrooke. Closing it would also further discourage through traffic from using the old route.

They should close the old A14/A14(M) all the way back to Alconbury - it's going to serve no useful purpose.

[6637]

Must say I'm a bit surprised the HA haven't decided to completely close the bit of the old A14 between Spittals and Huntingdon. It's not much use once the new A14 is open, and closing it would result in a nice open green space between Stukeley Meadows and Hinchingbrooke. Closing it would also further discourage through traffic from using the old route.

They should close the old A14/A14(M) all the way back to Alconbury - it's going to serve no useful purpose.

Nah, the Alconbury-Spittals section cuts off the corner for, say, Huntingdon to Peterborough traffic. So that bit's useful.

[roadtester]

This reminds me of some of the reports that appeared when the A505 Baldock bypass opened.

Apparently, trucks coming from the north on the A1 before heading east on the A505 continued to go through Baldock because it was shorter - a very similar situation.

Certainly, as someone who is relatively local, I'd be tempted at some stage at least to experiment with alternative routes rather than going the full way round.

I suspect that in order to stop the flow entirely, every trick in the traffic management book will have to be used!

It seems quite a waste to lose much of the value of the investment in the A14(M) by having it effectively just serve Huntingdon from the North, but Huntingdon will gain a lot aesthetically from the elimination of the viaduct - that part of town will get a lot nicer when it is gone.

[Bryn666]

There are plenty of ways to encourage the traffic to shift but this sort of management isn't really HE's den of expertise.

Firstly the fact they are keeping a D2 slamming into the town centre once the viaduct is gone shows a lack of foresight. That length of the A14 needs to be S2 to discourage continued use by through traffic. It is meeting S2s at a roundabout anyway. Gate the traffic at Spittals, not the town centre.

The other problem is the lane drop at Alconbury. This needs a traffic study to see if replacing it with an offside lane drop and thus reducing the prominence of J14 is workable. Otherwise you'll have some very disappointed faces when they get to Spittals and find themselves routed back to Brampton Hut.

[dcrc2]

Must say I'm a bit surprised the HA haven't decided to completely close the bit of the old A14 between Spittals and Huntingdon. It's not much use once the new A14 is open, and closing it would result in a nice open green space between Stukeley Meadows and Hinchingbrooke. Closing it would also further discourage through traffic from using the old route.

Completely agree with this. There is no need for an extra route through the town when the new road and the A141 will already form an almost-complete ring. Tearing up the road north of the viaduct is the right way to force traffic to use the new bypass and improve the environment of the town. (Whereas the road south of the viaduct is useful because of the awful standard of the current route into town through Godmanchester.)

[Derek]

The other problem is the lane drop at Alconbury. This needs a traffic study to see if replacing it with an offside lane drop and thus reducing the prominence of J14 is workable. Otherwise you'll have some very disappointed faces when they get to Spittals and find themselves routed back to Brampton Hut.

This is going to be the real trouble, traffic is still going to head down the A14(M) from the A1and see a straight on route of D2 at Spittals, so it'll still go through Huntingdon because it's a much shorter route than Brampton Hut.

The Alconbury turn-off could be downgraded in appearance easily enough though, the lane drop happens some way after the junction, the A1(M) remains D3M until it rejoins the old alignment.

Derek

[mikehindsonevans]

Must say I'm a bit surprised the HA haven't decided to completely close the bit of the old A14 between Spittals and Huntingdon. It's not much use once the new A14 is open, and closing it would result in a nice open green space between Stukeley Meadows and Hinchingbrooke. Closing it would also further discourage through traffic from using the old route.

Completely agree with this. There is no need for an extra route through the town when the new road and the A141 will already form an almost-complete ring. Tearing up the road north of the viaduct is the right way to force traffic to use the new bypass and improve the environment of the town. (Whereas the road south of the viaduct is useful because of the awful standard of the current route into town through Godmanchester.)

Just to be really selfish (for once!): I would like to be able to leave the Huntingdon Marriott (in the lea of the Spittals junction embankment) and drive straight into Great Stukely. But I realise that, "for the good of the many", I have to drive further - a lot further. Likewise when I arrive at the Marriott from Hampshire (M3/M25/A1), I have to undertake a complete circuit of the Spittals roundabout in order to get to my hotel. But that's life.

OT - Does any other regular user of Spittals have experience of, AFTER the lights have turned green to allow you to head westbound towards the Marriott, a lorry thundering up off the "northbound" A14 and not stopping at the red lights at the top of the off-slip? Or is it just me? I always give it an extra two second and have - so far - survived three near-misses. Now, why doesn't the tax-raising "camera partnership" do something useful and install a red-light camera there? Discuss?

Mike

[roadtester]

I suspect at least at first, a lot of people heading south are going to turn onto the A14(M) through sheer force of habit, regardless of what signage is up - I think more far-reaching measures will be needed.

[KeithW]

There are plenty of ways to encourage the traffic to shift but this sort of management isn't really HE's den of expertise.

Firstly the fact they are keeping a D2 slamming into the town centre once the viaduct is gone shows a lack of foresight. That length of the A14 needs to be S2 to discourage continued use by through traffic. It is meeting S2s at a roundabout anyway. Gate the traffic at Spittals, not the town centre.

The other problem is the lane drop at Alconbury. This needs a traffic study to see if replacing it with an offside lane drop and thus reducing the prominence of J14 is workable. Otherwise you'll have some very disappointed faces when they get to Spittals and find themselves routed back to Brampton Hut.

As I understand it the old A14 will be downgraded to a county road and any decision on its final disposition will be made by the county council. That said it seems to me that there will be a fair amount of traffic heading from both Alconbury and Brampton for Huntingdon and the Stukeley Industrial estate as well as along the A141. It would be a shame to reduce the capacity of a road that carries a lot of HGV traffic just to cater for people too lazy or stupid to read a road sign. The old road will as I understand it have the designation A1307. As long as the signage at Alconbury reads something like

'A1307 Huntingdon
For Cambridge and the M11 use A14'

That would seem adequate.

[KeithW]

I suspect at least at first, a lot of people heading south are going to turn onto the A14(M) through sheer force of habit, regardless of what signage is up - I think more far-reaching measures will be needed.

A mistake they will make only once. This is hardly a new situation as similar things happen whenever a new road opens.
Its most likely to happen now to people who slavishly follow their satnavs down goat tracks.

[roadtester]

I suspect at least at first, a lot of people heading south are going to turn onto the A14(M) through sheer force of habit, regardless of what signage is up - I think more far-reaching measures will be needed.

A mistake they will make only once. This is hardly a new situation as similar things happen whenever a new road opens.
Its most likely to happen now to people who slavishly follow their satnavs down goat tracks.

If their maps are up to date, their sat navs will be sending them the proper way.

[c2R]

Went through yesterday; work progressing nicely on some of the embankments for bridges on the route; Conington Telephone Exchange (Barn) is still standing, but now has crowd control fencing surrounding it - I suspect that its time has almost arrived! The petrol station and Little Chef at Bar Hill closed around May time, but these have now also been surrounded with crowd control fencing. The hotel remains open.

[Fenlander]

Not often you read "Little Chef" and "crowd control" in the same piece.

[jackal]

Must say I'm a bit surprised the HA haven't decided to completely close the bit of the old A14 between Spittals and Huntingdon. It's not much use once the new A14 is open, and closing it would result in a nice open green space between Stukeley Meadows and Hinchingbrooke. Closing it would also further discourage through traffic from using the old route.

Completely agree with this. There is no need for an extra route through the town when the new road and the A141 will already form an almost-complete ring. Tearing up the road north of the viaduct is the right way to force traffic to use the new bypass and improve the environment of the town. (Whereas the road south of the viaduct is useful because of the awful standard of the current route into town through Godmanchester.)

Couldn't disagree more. The new junction near the station will provide an important direct link to Huntingdon. What you are suggesting would also mean that traffic for Godmanchester etc from the north is suddenly forced through Huntingdon, a form of 'de-bypassing'. Essentially the scheme provides a high quality relief road pretty much for free. It would be absurd to squander such an opportunity.

Likewise, it is hard to see any case for downgrading the old road to single carriageway as suggested above. We're not talking about a village LAR like the old A74 or A1 in North Yorkshire. There will be significant volumes of commuter traffic, for instance between Cambridge and Huntingdon. Why waste money on a downgrade to an inherently less safe and lower capacity single carriageway? End to end it will be much slower than the freeflow alternative to the south, so volumes of strategic traffic will be negligible within a few weeks.

[dcrc2]

The new junction near the station will provide an important direct link to Huntingdon. What you are suggesting would also mean that traffic for Godmanchester etc from the north is suddenly forced through Huntingdon, a form of 'de-bypassing'.

Surely not - this traffic should be using the new road and the A1198.

[jackal]

That's a vastly longer route as the A1198 junction is well past Godmanchester.

[KeithW]

Couldn't disagree more. The new junction near the station will provide an important direct link to Huntingdon. What you are suggesting would also mean that traffic for Godmanchester etc from the north is suddenly forced through Huntingdon, a form of 'de-bypassing'. Essentially the scheme provides a high quality relief road pretty much for free. It would be absurd to squander such an opportunity.

Likewise, it is hard to see any case for downgrading the old road to single carriageway as suggested above. We're not talking about a village LAR like the old A74 or A1 in North Yorkshire. There will be significant volumes of commuter traffic, for instance between Cambridge and Huntingdon. Why waste money on a downgrade to an inherently less safe and lower capacity single carriageway? End to end it will be much slower than the freeflow alternative to the south, so volumes of strategic traffic will be negligible within a few weeks.

There is no requirement for traffic to Godmanchester and points south to go through Huntingdon. There is going to be a new junction with the A1198 south of the Wood Green animal shelter where traffic can either head north to Godmanchester or south to Papworth.

As for Huntingdon to Cambridge traffic the current setup is actually pretty poor. To use the A14 you have to either go over the Old Bridge and through Godmanchester or go up the B1044 to J23 . In practise most people I know would probably head east to St Ives and pick up the B1040 or catch the guided bus.

With the new layout access via Godmanchester will be little changed and via J23 you will be able to pick up the new alignment at the Brampton Interchange.

[KeithW]

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 and given that Godmanchester has a population of around 5,000 and I dont think that very many people will have their commute disturbed. 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.