Date published: 2005/03/31
The BBC says:
Plans to improve the A14, the worst traffic bottleneck and busiest road in the region, were unveiled on Wednesday.
There are two proposals for the stretch between Ellington and Fen Ditton to improve safety and cut journey times.
In a public consultation, details of both options - one costing £490m, the other £470m - are going on display in Cambridgeshire from next week.
If one of the schemes is approved, work could begin in 2008 and the road could open within 10 years.
The first scheme is for a new dual carriageway east of Ellington connecting with the A1 at a new junction south of Brampton Hut.
From there the new road would have three lanes each way and would re-join the existing A14 at a new junction just south of Fen Drayton.
Between Fen Drayton and Fen Ditton, the new A14 would be widened to three lanes each way, following the existing road with an improved junction at Girton (M11).
The junctions at Histon, Milton and Fen Ditton would be retained.
Between Girton and Histon, there would be an additional lane in each direction to safely accommodate the traffic joining and leaving the A14.
The existing A14 around Huntingdon would be downgraded for use by local traffic and public transport only and the viaduct over the railway and Brampton Road would be demolished.
The second scheme would keep the existing A14 past Huntingdon as a dual carriageway trunk road, with a new route from Ellington to Fen Drayton as a two-lane dual carriageway.
The proposals for the A14 east of Fen Drayton are the same as the recommendations in the first scheme.
The preferred route is due to be announced in 2006 and would be opened in stages between 2011 and 2015.
One could say better late than never. But the devil will be in the detail (the public exhibitions will hopefully give more detail). The current design of the road is so dreadful they couldn't possibly make it worse (could they??). Of course the NIMBYs and so-called environmentalists could easily delay the project by another few years. So by 2020 we might at long last have an A14 fit for the 1980s.
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