Highways England ‘working on solutions’ after problems on new A14 bypass

Highways England has said it is “working on solutions” after problems following the opening of the new A14 bypass.
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The new 12 mile A14 bypass, which runs between Swavesey and Ellington, opened on Monday but it has been a difficult start with reports of heavy traffic in the area..

At the same time as the bypass opened Highways England closed the existing A14 between Godmanchester (Junction 24) and Spittals (Junction 23) in both directions to allow work to remove the Huntingdon viaduct to begin this Christmas.

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The new bypass is part of a £1.5 billion project to upgrade 21 miles of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon.

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Highways England has today (Wednesday) issued the following statement: “The new A14 Huntingdon Southern bypass opened to traffic early on Monday morning (9

December). As with any new road it will take a few days for things to settle while sat navs and online maps get updated, new commute routes are found and technology is adjusted.

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“We’re aware there are some issues with traffic building up in some areas such as at Brampton Hut, near Swavesey on the A1307, and around Huntingdon and are working on solutions now.

“• At Brampton Hut and Spittals: We’ve now disabled the traffic lights at Spittals on the old A14 (A1307) eastbound exit slip road. This should allow traffic from the A141 to flow more freely from Huntingdon to the A1.

“We’re working to alter the traffic lights on the Brampton Hut roundabout to give priority to the A1 northbound exit slip road. We hope to complete this process, which has a number of stages to it, before the weekend.

“The cones on the A141 near to and on the Brampton Hut roundabout, as well as along the link road to the new Ellington Junction, need to be in place as we have work to change what was a temporary link road into a permanent one and also undertake some repairs. This layout will need to be in place until around February.

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“• A1307 near Swavesey at peak times: we are still finishing work along the A1307 section just before Swavesey junction, which is why traffic is currently on a contraflow on one lane in each direction instead of two and only one lane in use on the junction roundabout.

“In addition, after the Swavesey junction, traffic currently needs to re-join the A14 within the roadworks section (two narrow lanes at 40mph) but once the section of A1307 between Swavesey and Bar Hill, and main A14 work, are completed there will be two choices of road and a lot more capacity (three lanes of A14 eastbound and one lane of A1307 eastbound).

“Work on the A1307 section before Swavesey and between Swavesey and Bar Hill should be completed before spring 2020. We’ll keep people informed.

“• Around Huntingdon and Godmanchester: We needed to close the A1307 (old A14) viaduct over the railway line at Huntingdon as we are now starting preparation work to remove it. The viaduct is at the end of its serviceable life and required ongoing and costly maintenance.

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“Keeping it open would not be an efficient use of public money. Instead of the viaduct we are building link roads which will allow local traffic to access Huntingdon town centre and the station. This work is due to be completed in 2022.

“We were not able to complete these link roads before closing the viaduct as we are reusing materials in the embankment of the viaduct to build the new link roads. In the meantime, we are advising people to use the new A14 bypass for longer journeys instead of travelling through Huntingdon and Godmanchester.

“Work to complete the scheme between Swavesey and Milton is ongoing and is on track to complete by the end of 2020. We are doing our best to minimise disruption in these areas in the meantime.”