The Highways Agency has today announced plans for a major upgrade of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon.

If you travel in this area regularly, you will know it is a notorious bottleneck and is very prone to major delays, so in principle at least, this is good news.

As always, however, the devil will be in the detail. Will we end up with another underused, privately-operated toll road like the M6 Toll, while the majority of traffic continues to pound the non-toll, taxpayer-funded road into submission?

A public consultation will run from Monday 9 September to Sunday 13 October, with public exhibitions planned in the Cambridge and Huntingdon area from Tuesday 17 September, but here’s an overview of the Highway Agency’s proposed solution:

• A new Huntingdon Southern Bypass, with junctions at Ellington, at Brampton (where the A14 would meet the A1), at Godmanchester, and on the existing A14 at Swavesey. Proposals under consideration include this section of bypass being tolled.
• The A14 through Huntingdon would be de-trunked. The A14 viaduct over the mainline railway in Huntingdon would be demolished, enabling the existing A14 to be tied into local roads, greatly improving traffic flows in the town and accessing sites for possible new development.
• The A14 will be widened from Swavesey to Milton (the section between Girton Interchange and Histon will be widened earlier as part of a separate improvement scheme. Work is due to start in early 2014).
• A new single carriageway access road will be built alongside the improved A14 between Fen Drayton and Girton and is intended for local use.
• Girton and Milton junctions will be upgraded to improve traffic flow and to add more capacity, with improvements to other junctions along the route.
• Two new junctions will be constructed at Bar Hill and Swavesey to maintain existing access to the trunk road and to connect with the new local road network
• The A1 will be widened between Brampton and Alconbury in order to provide the additional capacity needed to cope with traffic linking to the A1 from the new Huntingdon Southern Bypass.

The A14 is one of the busiest routes in the country, as it links the M1, A1 and West Midlands to major East Coast ports such as Felixstowe. Nearly 85,000 vehicles per day travel on this road, so it would be good if a solution was found that was both cost-effective for the taxpayer and beneficial to  the majority of road users.

As the Freight Transport Agency pointed out today, road users expect accountability and value for money, and should be entitled to minimum service levels in the event that the new road is tolled:

Any contract to manage and charge for a new road must be accompanied by minimum standards of service, including route availability in severe weather, breakdown recovery and assistance times, minimum transit times and parking and rest facilities.  Freight companies will expect value for money and compensation when service falls short of promised standards.

The scheme has initially been priced at £1.5bn and work is due to get underway in late 2016 (subject to statutory processes and continued value for money), with completion expected in 2019/20.

For full details, visit:

http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/road-projects/a14-cambridge-to-huntingdon-improvement-scheme/