A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

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Berk
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by Berk »

trickstat wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 21:48
medgoode wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 21:10
Norfolktolancashire wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 20:23I drove south along the roadworks on Friday evening for the first time from Huntingdon towards Newmarket and although very light traffic, the miles and miles of 40mph restriction were tedious.
I notice on several major roadworks that 40mph now is standard, is there any research that illustrates the reduction from 50mph restrictions in roadworks has resulted in a safer environment?
I live in the area and attended one of the events held for locals. I asked one of the HE officials about the speed limit. He told me that as there were only two lanes of traffic the speed limit could not be over 40 mph. If it was three lanes he told me the speed limit would be 50 mph.

The section between Girton and Histon is three lanes, so you might wonder why that is not 50 mph. I didn't actually think of asking this, but I can guess they wanted a consistent speed limit.

As for evidence, this I do not know I am afraid.
The northernmost part of the A1 works on the southbound carriageway between Alconbury and Brampton Hut is now 50 despite being only 2 lanes. Maybe because they are the full width lanes of what will be A1(M) with one lane coned off.
But the southern half is still 2 lanes and 40.

As is the northbound carriageway. That doesn’t seem to even be being worked on.
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

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Berk wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 22:34
trickstat wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 21:48
medgoode wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 21:10 I live in the area and attended one of the events held for locals. I asked one of the HE officials about the speed limit. He told me that as there were only two lanes of traffic the speed limit could not be over 40 mph. If it was three lanes he told me the speed limit would be 50 mph.

The section between Girton and Histon is three lanes, so you might wonder why that is not 50 mph. I didn't actually think of asking this, but I can guess they wanted a consistent speed limit.

As for evidence, this I do not know I am afraid.
The northernmost part of the A1 works on the southbound carriageway between Alconbury and Brampton Hut is now 50 despite being only 2 lanes. Maybe because they are the full width lanes of what will be A1(M) with one lane coned off.
But the southern half is still 2 lanes and 40.

As is the northbound carriageway. That doesn’t seem to even be being worked on.
I suspect the presence of concrete blocks/barriers quite close to the 2 narrowish lanes may have something to do with that. It does seem rather quiet works wise on the northbound side at the moment.
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by Berk »

In fact the delays on the A1 section make me wonder if there is a resources, or technical issue we are not aware of.
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

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Interesting archaeological news from the works - they think they've found the earliest ever evidence of beer-brewing in the UK:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-c ... e-47042127
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

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Local report on the latest progress:

https://www.elystandard.co.uk/news/the- ... -1-5882022
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

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The off-topic discussions around advertising, cookies, and local newspapers can be found here. Please avoid any such further discussion in this topic.
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by Berk »

What I did gain from the linked article was that, yes, a tangible amount of progress has been made, looks good.

Still can’t get the A1 finished quick enough though.
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by DJ Mike »

Jonathan Tracey has just put up a big flyover video of the whole new A14 stretch - they've made a lot of progress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMBSUoH7zbI
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by KeithW »

DJ Mike wrote: Tue Feb 12, 2019 09:29 Jonathan Tracey has just put up a big flyover video of the whole new A14 stretch - they've made a lot of progress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMBSUoH7zbI
Another stunning production - that guy is very good indeed !
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by trickstat »

Berk wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 22:34
trickstat wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 21:48
medgoode wrote: Mon Jan 28, 2019 21:10 I live in the area and attended one of the events held for locals. I asked one of the HE officials about the speed limit. He told me that as there were only two lanes of traffic the speed limit could not be over 40 mph. If it was three lanes he told me the speed limit would be 50 mph.

The section between Girton and Histon is three lanes, so you might wonder why that is not 50 mph. I didn't actually think of asking this, but I can guess they wanted a consistent speed limit.

As for evidence, this I do not know I am afraid.
The northernmost part of the A1 works on the southbound carriageway between Alconbury and Brampton Hut is now 50 despite being only 2 lanes. Maybe because they are the full width lanes of what will be A1(M) with one lane coned off.
But the southern half is still 2 lanes and 40.

As is the northbound carriageway. That doesn’t seem to even be being worked on.
The southbound 50 limit now goes a little south of Brampton Hut before suddenly changing to 40. On the one hand, it seems rather random to move that small stretch up to 50 and then suddenly change down to 40 as there is little change in the nature of the road. Maybe there is no work currently going on alongside that extra 50 section?
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by Berk »

When I drove past on holiday (a month ago), it didn’t seem like a substantial amount of work (on the A1) has been completed since the middle of last year.

So I’m a little sceptical it could be opened before (or even by) Easter. Even summer might be a push.
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by jcb336 »

DJ Mike wrote: Tue Feb 12, 2019 09:29 Jonathan Tracey has just put up a big flyover video of the whole new A14 stretch - they've made a lot of progress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMBSUoH7zbI
This is a simply excellent video. Thank you.
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by kiran_mk2 »

Very impressive to see the whole route in one video. I'm a bit surprised at the amount of work still to do on the new bits. Driving this route everyday I have seen the tarmac going down on the new carriageways at Swavesy and around the A1198 at Wood Green, but am surprised the new bits of road aren't a bit more advanced.
My guess from seeing the development is that they are going to build a brand new westbound carriageway south of the existing road between Bar Hill and Swavesy (starting at 3:00 in the video above). The current westbound carriageway will be widened to become the new eastbound carriageway and the current eastbound carriage way will be repurposed as the LAR. If you've driven the route you may have noticed that the current westbound carriageway is a few feet lower than the eastbound carriageway and the area where they will widening it to under the new Swavesy bridge. From the video it looks like the new tarmac around this area will be used to temporarily divert the westbound traffic onto (just after the Swavesy sliproad at 4:00) while the existing westbound carriageway will be ripped up and the ground level raised. You can see where it looks like the temporary route will be funelled back to the original westbound carriageway at 4:35. I'd hazard a guess that the new westbound on/off slips will be put into use at this time.
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by Berk »

You have probably hit the nail on the head there. The A1 was improved in a similar fashion (from Alconbury to Alwalton).
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by Al__S »

by using the eastbound carriageway as the LAR it means they don't have to divert around, or demolish on of, the houses at Hill Farm, Lolworth, and the currently struggling diner at Swavesey.
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by kiran_mk2 »

Also realised over the weekend that the same thing applies eastbound under the new Bar Hill bridges - the level of the current eastbound carriageway is lower than that of the westbound and the new area for widening of the eastbound carriageway. The LAR by Bar Hill has diverged (will go under the currently un-connected bridge to the north) so not sure how they will manage this - I'm guessing they can squeeze 2 lanes on the ground and divert e/b traffic onto this.
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by DJ Mike »

kiran_mk2 wrote: Mon Feb 18, 2019 16:46 Also realised over the weekend that the same thing applies eastbound under the new Bar Hill bridges - the level of the current eastbound carriageway is lower than that of the westbound and the new area for widening of the eastbound carriageway. The LAR by Bar Hill has diverged (will go under the currently un-connected bridge to the north) so not sure how they will manage this - I'm guessing they can squeeze 2 lanes on the ground and divert e/b traffic onto this.
I imagine they will need to build the LAR and divert traffic onto it anyway, in order to begin construction of the new eastbound off-slip (as that clashes with the temporary eastbound junction). At the very least, they'll need to rearrange the junction again. There looks to be more progress of the eastbound on-slip, so I wonder if they'll get that done first (along with the use of at least one of the new bridges so they can demolish the old one).
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by kiran_mk2 »

DJ Mike wrote: Tue Feb 19, 2019 11:45
I imagine they will need to build the LAR and divert traffic onto it anyway, in order to begin construction of the new eastbound off-slip (as that clashes with the temporary eastbound junction). At the very least, they'll need to rearrange the junction again. There looks to be more progress of the eastbound on-slip, so I wonder if they'll get that done first (along with the use of at least one of the new bridges so they can demolish the old one).
The original plan was for the Eastbound off slip to be missing for several months due to (as you have said) the temporary e/b slips being where both the new off slip and LAR will go. The old timelines (now removed from the A14 upgrade site) showed that for the first few months drivers wishing to leave e/b at Bar Hill would have to travel on to Dry Drayton and turn around (would be fun in the evening rush) and then later when the LAR is more developed come off at Swavesy and take the LAR to the Bar hill junction. Not sure if the plans have changed since then.
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

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I don't think anyone has posted this before - apologies if they have.

An interesting article from New Civil Engineer on some of the techniques and technologies that are being used in the construction of the scheme, including drones and autonomous plant:

https://www.newcivilengineer.com/tech-e ... 40.article

One interesting snippet - it was always designed/built to smart motorway standard, so the decision to go for blue signs has involved minimal changes.
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Re: A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon "news"

Post by KeithW »

roadtester wrote: Sat Feb 23, 2019 11:10 I don't think anyone has posted this before - apologies if they have.

An interesting article from New Civil Engineer on some of the techniques and technologies that are being used in the construction of the scheme, including drones and autonomous plant:

https://www.newcivilengineer.com/tech-e ... 40.article

One interesting snippet - it was always designed/built to smart motorway standard, so the decision to go for blue signs has involved minimal changes.


Indeed although as I recall there have been indications that expressways should include Smart Motorway features. Nice to see the latest methods are apparently working well. On civil engineering projects I worked on in the past making sure things were done in the right place and orientation was always fraught. The distillation column on the Wilton site that was installed 90 deg out of orientation with its consequent quirky piping is still in place :)
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