Black Cat Roundabout

The Black Cat Roundabout is a major junction on the A1 in Bedfordshire, where it meets the A421 from Milton Keynes and Bedford, which along with the A428 and A14, forms part of an west - east route from the M1 to East Anglia. Consequently, it is a notorious congestion hotspot.

It takes its name from the garage and car repair workshop which opened in the 1920s at the junction called the Black Cat Garage. In later years the garage was converted to a nightclub and then a restaurant, before becoming derelict for many years. In the 1980s, the current large covered petrol station was opened on the site.

Long terms plans were for the A1(M) to be constructed offline to the west, and so when the A421 Great Barford bypass was built, it plugged into the existing roundabout (albeit upgraded) rather than meet the A1 at a grade separated junction.

The roundabout has a popular silhouette of a black cat in the centre.

The roundabout has been widened and improved several times in recent years, with a reconstruction in 2005-6 as part of the Great Barford bypass works and most recently in 2015, widening the A1 southbound approach into the roundabout to four lanes and adding traffic signals.

In March 2017, further proposals were made for improvements to the junction.

As part of the Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet Improvements the roundabout will be upgraded into a massive three level stack interchange. Theses works started in late 2023.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
A1	The NORTH, Peterborough, Cambridge (A428), Chawston 1, Wyboston 3/4
A1	London, Stevenage, Sandy 4
A421	(M1, M. Keynes, Luton (A6), Bedford (A428)
C44	Gt Barford, Roxton
A428	Cambridge	Construction starting in 2022
A428	Bedford, Gt Barford	now A421
A6002	Bedford, Gt Barford	renumbered as A428 in 1935

Links

Roads.org.uk

• Bad Junctions page

National Highways

• Black Cat to Caxton Gibbett Preferred Route Announcement  2019 (archive.org)

Grid References

• TL159554