Oxford to Cambridge expressway

[kit]

Getting from Oxford/Abingdon to the M4 is a bit of the problem - the bit to Swindon always seems to fall by the wayside by tradition.

Living in Oxford the only advantage of an improved link between Swindon and Oxford would be to allow people to get out of Swindon quicker. I'd support building a wall around Mexico Swindon rather than improving road links if at all possible.

[Owain]

Living in Oxford the only advantage of an improved link between Swindon and Oxford would be to allow people to get out of Swindon quicker. I'd support building a wall around Mexico Swindon rather than improving road links if at all possible.

Back when I was using the A420 to get to Oxford, I remember one of the signs just outside Swindon had been amended with a spray can, so that it said: "Oxford SCUMVILLE". So it looks like the feeling is mutual!

[kit]

Back when I was using the A420 to get to Oxford, I remember one of the signs just outside Swindon had been amended with a spray can, so that it said: "Oxford SCUMVILLE". So it looks like the feeling is mutual!

If they're from Swindon it's highly unlikely they could read so it was probably pot luck which sign they wrote it on. It's amazing they could operate a spraypaint with their warped, six fingered hands, though.

[jackal]

OK, I stand corrected, it is needed !
So when will work start ? On an historical basis, I'd say a minimum of 15 years before breaking ground and probably 20 years. After all the few miles of the A556 link up here near Knutsford took over 30 years. So three or four Parliaments, each one of which can cancel what the previous government authorised. The A556 link is a classic example

It is being developed to start construction in 2020-25. Yes, such dates can fall by the wayside if there is a change of government, but have you seen the Labour party lately?

[KeithW]

MK is already very well-connected to the north and London, mainly via the M1 but building Oxford/Cambridge would make it pretty much as as well connected to the east, south and south west as well.

MK is already quite well connected to the east by the A421. You can do Cambridge to MK in around an hour. The road I would like to see upgraded is the A420 from Oxford to Swindon and the M4. Link that to the Oxford Cambridge Expressway and that would have the ability to take a lot of traffic off the M25 and eastern end of the M4

[roadtester]

MK is already quite well connected to the east by the A421. You can do Cambridge to MK in around an hour.

I do this journey regularly and have done for the last fifteen years or so, and I'd certainly agree that it has improved a lot with the A428 and A421 upgrades during that time.

Nevertheless, it's still a major pain that Caxton Gibbet and Black Cat haven't been linked directly with a modern dual carriageway. If anything, the great standard of the work that has already been done just emphasises how rubbish that bit is.

[thatapanydude]

Having looked at the route options, its clear option A is the best because:
1 - Provides a bypass for Aylesbury.
2 - Can provide an easy link to Luton via the A5 and to Hitchin and Stevenage via the A505 and North Luton bypass.
3 - Relief capacity on the M40 as the A41 can now provide a good link to London.
4 - It doesn't take excess traffic, since traffic from the North would still use the A43 (though this may be limited as more traffic uses an improved A1). Something which the northern option does.
5 - Allows the southern bypass of Oxford.

[KeithW]

... my wording reflected that for ironic effect - which is admittedly an effect one should not try to achieve on the interwebs

Ah.... I think a lot of my lighthearted comments get taken as more serious than intended, too.

The reality is that with the exception of Bristol the major UK container ports are on the east coast ....

Surely Southampton fits into that category too? And it is effectively at the beginning of the proposed arc that would effectively lead to Felixstowe at the end.

Granted but Southampton is a considerably smaller container port than Felixstowe and lacks space to expand much more as it is also a cruise terminal, bulk goods port and RORO ferry terminal as well as a major yachting centre. The last figures I saw had Felixstowe handling 3.7 million container units a year to the 1.2 million from Southampton. Felixstowe is currently adding 50% to that capacity.

Southampton has decent connections to the Midlands including a good rail freight line and roads to London are OK but as we all know road links along the south coast are very poor. Realistically right now bulk shipping to the NW or Wales from Southampton by road means using the M3 to the M25 or the A34 to the M4 both of which are already a problem. Heading to Exeter with an HGV would probably mean using the A303 !

[KeithW]

I do this journey regularly and have done for the last fifteen years or so, and I'd certainly agree that it has improved a lot with the A428 and A421 upgrades during that time.

Nevertheless, it's still a major pain that Caxton Gibbet and Black Cat haven't been linked directly with a modern dual carriageway. If anything, the great standard of the work that has already been done just emphasises how rubbish that bit is.

Agreed but that fix is really dependent on the decisions taken on determerning the route of the A1(M) from Welwyn to Alconbury.

[roadtester]

Yes - need for Oxford/Cambridge, A1 upgrade and A14 Huntingdon Cambs all to go ahead before anything can be firmed up!

[trickstat]

To think of an improved link between Oxford and Cambridge as merely being of use if you are travelling between one and the other is a bit like regarding Crossrail as only being relevant for those travelling from Reading to Shenfield or vice-versa.

[jackal]

I do this journey regularly and have done for the last fifteen years or so, and I'd certainly agree that it has improved a lot with the A428 and A421 upgrades during that time.

Nevertheless, it's still a major pain that Caxton Gibbet and Black Cat haven't been linked directly with a modern dual carriageway. If anything, the great standard of the work that has already been done just emphasises how rubbish that bit is.

Agreed but that fix is really dependent on the decisions taken on determerning the route of the A1(M) from Welwyn to Alconbury.

Actually it's the other way round - CG to Black Cat will start construction by Spring 2020 with the A1 upgrade penciled in to start in the next road period (2020-25).

[wrinkly]

I think some of the dates being given for schemes added to the programme in the last couple of years are highly optimistic.

Furthermore, if a major improvement/realignment/bypass of the A1 is being considered, it would be pretty daft to fix a route for Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet before some basic aspects of the A1 route are decided.

[kit]

I think some of the dates being given for schemes added to the programme in the last couple of years are highly optimistic.

You must be new here

The way road building works is

The Government says it's going to build a road next Friday starting just after lunch for £53m.
Friday morning a press conference is called saying they've just discovered three blue headed shrews living near the road site and are waiting for a highly paid environmental consultant to tell them what to do.
Five years later the scheme is reintroduced including an elaborate underground railway for the shrews now costing £79m.
Three more years later if you're very lucky the scheme finally starts now costing £156m, including weekly massage for the shrews, and scheduled to take eighteen months.
Seventeen months later the road is finished for £154m and the Government gives itself a pat on the back for delivering the project early and under budget.

[jackal]

The way road building in the 90s worked was

FTFY

[Owain]

I think some of the dates being given for schemes added to the programme in the last couple of years are highly optimistic.

You must be new here

The way road building works is

The Government says it's going to build a road next Friday starting just after lunch for £53m.
Friday morning a press conference is called saying they've just discovered three blue headed shrews living near the road site and are waiting for a highly paid environmental consultant to tell them what to do.
Five years later the scheme is reintroduced including an elaborate underground railway for the shrews now costing £79m.
Three more years later if you're very lucky the scheme finally starts now costing £156m, including weekly massage for the shrews, and scheduled to take eighteen months.
Seventeen months later the road is finished for £154m and the Government gives itself a pat on the back for delivering the project early and under budget.

Compared with France, where they decide to build a new motorway across the country on Monday morning. Money is no object and protesters are brushed aside. The road is completed by Thursday lunchtime, and the workforce can go home early and take Friday off.

[crb11]

I think some of the dates being given for schemes added to the programme in the last couple of years are highly optimistic.

You must be new here

The way road building works is

The Government says it's going to build a road next Friday starting just after lunch for £53m.
Friday morning a press conference is called saying they've just discovered three blue headed shrews living near the road site and are waiting for a highly paid environmental consultant to tell them what to do.
Five years later the scheme is reintroduced including an elaborate underground railway for the shrews now costing £79m despite the shrews having moved ten miles away a month after their sighting and showing no signs of returning
...

FTFY.

[Patrick Harper]

Surely if we are going to be spending much more money on roads than in the last 30 years, an expressway link between Oxford and Cambridge should be far down a priority list ? Heavens sake there is so much to do in other, more important places ! However, I suppose one could justify it on the need to connect these two places to Milton Keynes and the M1.

An Oxford/Cambridge expressway doesn't seem pie in the sky to me. In fact, it could be achieved by:

• A new D2 from Milton Common to Dunstable, multiplexing with the A41 Aston Clinton Bypass along the way,
  
  Incorporation of the Dunstable Northern Bypass and a new Luton Northern Bypass, joining up with the A505 near Offley,
  
  A Hitchin Southern Bypass, multiplexing with the A1(M) with a reworked J9.

All that's left is a little tidying up of the A505 and A10, and then you've got a reasonable link road.

[jackal]

Surely if we are going to be spending much more money on roads than in the last 30 years, an expressway link between Oxford and Cambridge should be far down a priority list ? Heavens sake there is so much to do in other, more important places ! However, I suppose one could justify it on the need to connect these two places to Milton Keynes and the M1.

An Oxford/Cambridge expressway doesn't seem pie in the sky to me. In fact, it could be achieved by:

• A new D2 from Milton Common to Dunstable, multiplexing with the A41 Aston Clinton Bypass along the way,
  
  Incorporation of the Dunstable Northern Bypass and a new Luton Northern Bypass, joining up with the A505 near Offley,
  
  A Hitchin Southern Bypass, multiplexing with the A1(M) with a reworked J9.

All that's left is a little tidying up of the A505 and A10, and then you've got a reasonable link road.

That is a much longer and more expensive route than any of the three shortlisted options. It would also be much more congested as it would have to carry local traffic from all the roads you're gobbling up along the way. Much better to go for a new alignment.

[Fluid Dynamics]

I think some of the dates being given for schemes added to the programme in the last couple of years are highly optimistic.

You must be new here

The way road building works is

The Government says it's going to build a road next Friday starting just after lunch for £53m.
Friday morning a press conference is called saying they've just discovered three blue headed shrews living near the road site and are waiting for a highly paid environmental consultant to tell them what to do.
Five years later the scheme is reintroduced including an elaborate underground railway for the shrews now costing £79m.
Three more years later if you're very lucky the scheme finally starts now costing £156m, including weekly massage for the shrews, and scheduled to take eighteen months.
Seventeen months later the road is finished for £154m and the Government gives itself a pat on the back for delivering the project early and under budget.

Compared with France, where they decide to build a new motorway across the country on Monday morning. Money is no object and protesters are brushed aside. The road is completed by Thursday lunchtime, and the workforce can go home early and take Friday off.

Although I'd love to believe that was true, take a look at their efforts to build the missing link in the A51, the entirety of the A831 or the western side of the Francilienne, they have their own problems.