A10

Route

The A10 is among the prominent arterial routes extending outward from London, specifically known as the Great Cambridge Road. Despite the redirection of Cambridge-bound traffic to the M11, the A10 retains its status as a primary thoroughfare. It continues to serve as the principal north-south conduit in the western part of East Anglia. In fact, when journeying to East Anglia from regions situated north of London, traversing the A10 remains an unavoidable necessity.

London-Cambridge

The A10 commences at Monument station in the City of London, coinciding with the current origin of the A3. Historically, the A4 and A100 also converged at this junction until their reconfiguration in the 1990s. Proceeding northward along Gracechurch Street, the A10 navigates past notable landmarks such as Tower 42 (formerly the NatWest Tower) and Liverpool Street Station. It continues along the evocatively named Norton Folgate before intersecting with the Ring Road (A1201) and the Shoreditch one-way system. Upon successfully traversing this complex junction, the A10 proceeds in an almost due north trajectory, passing through Dalston, Stoke Newington, and beyond the Seven Sisters junction with the A503.

Abruptly, at Bruce Grove, the A10 abandons its traditional path, which is now designated as the A1010 through Edmonton, and transitions, after a brief interval, into the Great Cambridge Road. This name evokes a sense of purposeful travel, reminiscent of the Great West Road and other significant thoroughfares constructed during the prolific road-building period of the mid-1920s. The Great Cambridge Road is characterized by its dual carriageway format, flanked by 1930s-era houses, some of which are situated on adjacent local roads. Upon reaching the Great Cambridge Junction, the A10 intersects with the A406 North Circular, and proceeds towards Enfield, ultimately converging with the M25 at Junction 25, a notable roundabout.

Incidentally, the matter of the road's intended terminus warrants examination. Historically, as the nomenclature suggests, the A10 was conceived as a conduit to Cambridge from London. However, the advent of the M11 during the 1970s and 1980s rendered the A10 redundant for direct London-Cambridge traffic. Consequently, Cambridge ceases to appear on road signs south of Hertford, to the best of my recollection. This exclusion is rather lamentable. Meticulous efforts seem to have been made to expunge any reference to Cambridge on somewhat older signs—although an oversight remains in Cheshunt, where the approach sign to the A10 roundabout on the A121 still mentions Cambridge, as noted by Rob Fairhead. The utility of such thorough concealment is questionable. While it is reasonable not to signpost Cambridge from the M25, obliterating its mention on signs further north seems rather excessive. Nevertheless, I digress. Presently, within London, the A10 is signposted towards Enfield and Hertford.

The section through Cheshunt can be a bit gruelling, but after that, things get better.

A10.Dual Carriageway Section

We're on a dual carriageway at this point, although there's the odd roundabout to punctuate things. Ware is bypassed by a nice fast bit of new road, including an impressive viaduct over the Lea Valley and then suddenly you're on single carriageway again. A fairly straight bit of road (after all, it is the Roman Ermine Street), and passes through the middle of a few villages, whose inhabitants live in fear of the heavy traffic. Wadesmill is the location of the world's first turnpike, opened in 1663, and now commemorated by a plaque on one of the houses. The section of the former A10 between High Cross and Colliers End was reputedly improved by Telford.

Simon D writes:

The section between Ware and Puckeridge was bypassed to the east, which has brought much needed relief to the villages of Wadesmill, High Cross and Colliers End. On the former A10, opposite St Edmunds College to the south of Puckeridge, you can see a cast iron marker post which indicates where the A10 crosses the Greenwich Meridian.

c2r writes:

The bypass opened on 8th October 2004, being detrunked two years later

Puckeridge, which is now bypassed, is a small village which appeared as a major primary route destination on signs, as it's halfway between London and Cambridge. It's also the junction with the A120 to Bishop's Stortford and points east, which is also an ex-Roman road (Stane Street). However, Puckeridge doesn't seem to be given as much prominence now. There's another bypass for Buntingford - single carriageway this time - then on to Royston, a fun bit of road to drive on when there's no traffic (!) due to the straightness, and the ups and downs of the road. It passes through the middle of Royston. There's a sharp bend to the right just before a one-way loop; this was a TOTSO and the southern end of the original A14. On the far side of town it meets the A505 at a roundabout.

We cross the Cambridgeshire border - from now on the traffic is slightly reduced. The village of Melbourn is bypassed, but after a level crossing by Foxton station we have to trundle through Harston at 30 mph (if you go any faster, the signs flash at you!). We reach M11 J11, and the A10 disappears. Through traffic is signed to use the M11 and A14 around the Cambridge; the road ahead, the pre-bypass route of the A10, is now the A1309.

Cambridge - Ely

The A10 resumes at A14 J33 near the village of Milton, which it then bypasses. Now we're into Fens country, and the traffic is very heavy (we haven't got the luxury of parallel motorways taking the traffic). Because the land is so flat you can see Ely Cathedral (the "Ship of the Fens") for a while before you get to Ely itself. The road is relative straight, but heavily congested as a result of continued commercial and residential development in Cambridge and Ely respectively, including the mix of strategic freight traffic coming from the Fenlands as well as freight accessing local businesses and commuter traffic.

There have been several schemes proposed over the years to alleviate congestion on this stretch.

Main Article: A10/Cambridge to Ely Improvement

Ely - Kings Lynn

Just south of Ely is a left TOTSO at a roundabout with the A142, where the A10 joins the Ely / Littleport bypass (which continues onto the A142). The A142 multiplexes with the A10 up to the next roundabout where it disappears off to the left into deepest Fenland. The following roundabout is with the A1101 just outside Littleport, and another multiplex take us round a gentle curve towards the next A1101 roundabout (another left TOTSO), just after the A10 goes over the River Great Ouse. However the bypass finishes just before here, actually just over a level crossing, where the right turn into Littleport is the old route of the A10 here.

Much of the A10 north of Ely was improved to a high standard S2 around 1980, with many realignments and bypasses for Ely, Littleport, Southery, Hilgay, Fordham, Denver, and Downham Market; however, the next section is perhaps a reminder of the A10's former life. Here it meanders alongside the Great Ouse (the river here is non tidal due to the Denver Sluice a bit further downstream) on the side of the river embankment, and at a considerably higher than the surrounding flatlands. Ironically if rising sea levels caused the Fens to disappear under water this old stretch of A10 may be the only bit of the road left.

It's still all flat everywhere at the Brandon Creek Bridge over the Little Ouse as you enter Norfolk, but at least the road gets wider after the bridge (you can see the old road - this has never been the A10 - dutifully following the river to the left) and we gain some nice edge strips as well. A bit further on the B1160 makes its way to the right into Southery along the old A10, only to reappear a bit later on, and a few more miles and we reach the roundabout with the A1122 to the south of Downham Market. This roundabout is a relatively recent addition, replacing a priority junction. The A10 multiplexes with the A1122 up to the next roundabout where the latter heads off to Swaffham.

We say goodbye to the edge strips near Tottenhill but the road is still quite reasonable here. It's not until the A134 roundabout (another recent change; the old crossroads here was simply awful) that there's a slight downturn in the A10's fortunes. For here not only does the A10 have to take all the A134's traffic (like the A10, the A134 is ex-trunk), but we also pass through the only significant built up area (Setchey and West Winch) on the A10 between Ely and King's Lynn. And to cap it all things all end up at the traffic signals on the Hardwick Roundabout. Suffice to say this last 4 miles of A10 can be a right slog, often with long northbound queues.

Short of King's Lynn

This roundabout marks the end of our road (and you won't get a lower numbered 2 digit A road than this one!) at the outer edge of King's Lynn where it meets the A47 and A149, both of which bypass the town.

History

A10: 1923 Historic Route

In the original classification scheme, all roads inside the City of London were unclassified, so the A10 originally started along Shoreditch High Street where it crossed the boundary into the Borough of Hackney. It was extended back to its current starting point by the end of the 1920s, but at some point later, it was rerouted to start at Bank and run along Threadneedle Street, with the old road becoming the A1213. After the "Ring of Steel" was introduced in 1994, the startpoint was moved back to Monument. Some maps still claim that Gracechurch Street is the A1213, suggesting that the A10 starts inexplicably on that road at a set of traffic lights at the end of Threadneedle Street.

The original endpoint of the A10 was at the junction of Railway Road and Norfolk Street in King's Lynn, where it met the A149. This remained the case until 1935. The A47 was rerouted via King's Lynn to avoid Downham Market and thus took over a mile or so of the A10. Railway Road became the A149. The A10/A47 fork was upgraded to form the Hardwick Roundabout when the A149 King's Lynn Eastern Bypass opened.

Opening Dates

Year	Section	Notes
1973	Puckeridge Bypass	The 2.5 mile dual carriageway opened on 21 February 1973. Initially, just the northbound carriageway was in use whilst the southbound carriageway was completed. Contractor was Mears Construction Ltd., cost £700,000.
1975	Hoddesdon Bypass	Hoddesdon - Ware Bypass Stage 1: Rush Green Interchange, Ware to Great Cambridge Road, Cheshunt (connecting directly, with also a short spur to Halfhide Lane. Shown on June 1975 OS Quarter inch map, under construction on June 1974 edition. It may have opened in 1974.
1976	Ware Bypass	Hoddesdon - Ware Bypass Stage 2: The 2.6 mile D2 dual carriageway from Cambridge Road to Rush Green Interchange was opened 17 August 1976 by Brian Hall, Chairman of Hertfordshire County Council's Highways Committee. It included a viaduct across King's Meads, River Lea and New River. Outturn works cost £4.2 million.
1978	Milton Bypass	A traffic census on the road was reported by the 7 November 1978 Cambridge Daily News. It had been reported on 6 March 1978 that it was to open later in the year. The contract was awarded in June 1976. It was part of the Cambridge Northern Bypass scheme which opened later on 21 December 1978.
1979	Downham Market Eastern Bypass	Also bypassed Denver and Wimbotsham. The South Runcton to Ryston section opened on 6 December 1979, the Stow Bardolph bypass having been opened on 21 November 1979. 0.5 mile of the Downham Market Bypass section had opened on 6 November 1978 per the "Opening 1979" RAC World magazine. Part of the 11 mile improvement scheme from South Runcton to Southery which was fully opened on 16 June 1980. Single carriageway. Contractor was Mears Construction.
1980	Southery to South Runcton	The 11 mile offline and online single carriageway improvement scheme was officially opened on 16 June 1980 by Paul Hawkins, MP for South-west Norfolk. Bypasses for Southery, Hilgay, Fordham, Stow Bardolph and Downham Market/ Denver (latter opening in December 1979). Contractor was Mears Construction, expected cost £3.85 million.
1986	Ely and Littleport Bypass	The 7.7 mile road was opened on 24 June 1986 by Peter Bottomley, Under-Secretary of State for Transport. Cost £5.4 million.
1987	Buntingford Bypass	The 2.6 mile single carriageway road from 400m north of Sandon Lane to 720m north west of Westmill Lane was opened on 12 June 1987 per the Land Compensation notice. Opened by Jonathan Ling, Chairman of Buntingford Town Council. Works cost £4 million.
1988	Melbourn Bypass	The 2.8 mile single carriageway road was opened on 15 July 1988 by Peter Bottomley, Minister for Roads and Traffic. Contractor was A.S. Budge, cost £5 million.
1991	Ferry Bank (Southery) Diversion	The 0.6 mile from 200m north of Brandon Creek Bridge to 350m south of Sedge Fen Road was opened on 21 December 1991 per the Noise Insulation Regulations notice.
2004	Ware - Puckeridge	Wadesmill, High Cross and Collier’s End Bypass The 4.5 mile dual carriageway was due to open on 8 October 2004 per the previous day’s Construction News. It had been anticipate at the start of the year that it would be open 8 months early, but carriageway cracks appeared. The sulphate reaction problem necessitated the relaying of 35% of the carriageway length to its full depth, and the opening was 6 weeks late. Contractor was Fitzpatrick, cost £25.7 million.

Links

Roads.org.uk

• Foxton Railway Crossing

National Highways

• Post Opening Project Evaluation - A10 Wadesmill to Colliers End Bypass – Five Years After - Part A  November 2010 (archive.org)

• Post Opening Project Evaluation - A10 Wadesmill to Colliers End Bypass – Five Years After - Part B  November 2010 (archive.org)

• Post Opening Project Evaluation - A10 Wadesmill to Colliers End Bypass – Five Years After - Part C  November 2010 (archive.org)

• Post Opening Project Evaluation - A10 Wadesmill to Colliers End Bypass – Five Years After - Part D  November 2010 (archive.org)

Roads UK

• Highways and Byways Route Guide

legislation.gov.uk

• The A10 Trunk Road (Wadesmill, High Cross and Colliers End Bypass and Slip Road) Order 1993

• The A10 Trunk Road (North of Ware to South of Puckeridge) (Detrunking) Order 1993 - this order removes trunk status from the old A10, bypassed by the Wadesmill and High Cross bypass

• The London–King’s Lynn Trunk Road (A10) (Brandon Creek – Southery Improvement) Order 1989 - this provides for a 0.96 km realignment scheme at Brandon Creek, in Norfolk

• The A10 London–Cambridge–King’s Lynn Trunk Road (M11 Junction 11 to A505 Royston Hertfordshire) Detrunking Order 2001 - this removes trunk status from the A10, from Royston to M11 J11

• The A10 London–Cambridge–King’s Lynn Trunk Road (A47 King’s Lynn to A14 Milton, Cambridgeshire) Detrunking Order 2001 - this removes trunk status from the A10, from Cambridge to King's Lynn

Hansard

• Dual Carriageway Project, Great Cambridge Road (17.12.1953)
• Great Cambridge Road Enfield (Dual Carriageway) (14.07.1954) - Question as to when Edmonton and Enfield improvements are to start
• Great Cambridge Road (Dual Carriageway) (28.03.1958) - Question as to when Carterhatch Lane to Hertfordshire border improvements are to start