Cambridge’s busiest peak-time cycle route to get big safety upgrade

Early work to make walking and cycling safer on the city’s “busiest peak-time cycle route” is set to begin after it was approved by the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s executive board.

The board approved the early delivery of two sections of the Comberton Greenway at its recent meeting – Adams Road and Coton Village.

The works along Adams Road will include the widening of the footways, reduction of on-street parking and the inclusion of rain gardens and planting.

The carriageway will be resurfaced in red asphalt to create a ‘cycle-street’ giving priority to cyclists and pedestrians over motorised vehicles.

Resident Dan Strauss told the board: “Adams Road is the busiest peak time cycle route in the whole of Cambridge. “Back in October 2020, 5,900 cyclists used it in a single day and the number has increased rapidly since then.

“When the engineering department lectures move to West Cambridge from the town centre, at a stroke, an additional 1,200 students will cycle and walk along Adams Road.

“The West Cambridge development alone has 7,000 cycle parking spaces, so Adams Road will get busier and busier, and that’s something to celebrate, but Adam’s Road is desperately in need of major safety improvements.

“It has three junctions, 37 access points and 81 HGV lorries a week reverse into Robinson College’s service yard.

“The road is not a quiet backwater, as some would have you believe, it’s a vital artery for cyclists and pedestrians, and that’s why this section of the Comberton Greenway is so important.

“The local residents are broadly supportive of the GCP plans. However, we would urge the work to begin as soon as possible, as the dangers to cyclists and pedestrians get worse day by day, and although some traffic-calming features were added after our consultation with the GCP, we are convinced that more traffic calming will be needed retrospectively.

“So my questions are, when will work start, and can additional traffic-calming measures be added retrospectively?”

Thomas Fitzpatrick, head of programme, responded: “If the decision is taken by the executive board today to proceed with Adams Road, a Traffic Regulation Order will be advertised detailing the speed reduction and traffic removal elements of the scheme. Following that statutory period, the GCP will aim to commence the construction of the Adams Road scheme in the spring of 2025.

“The design of the scheme has been developed to ensure that speeds are safe, and the design will be subject to a road safety audit for the traffic regulation order as input, if changes are required, will be implemented.”

A new zebra crossing and the 20mph zone will be expanded in Barton to improve journeys and road safety as part of the Barton Greenway project.

Works are already under way to widen the existing path along Barton Road between the city and Haggis Farm Roundabout.

Members also noted the ‘Greenways Green and Blue Infrastructure’ (GBI) strategy which will ensure the designs for each of the 12 new walking, cycling and wheeling routes are sensitive to the different landscapes and communities the Greenways will travel through.

Cllr Elisa Meschini (Lab, King’s Hedges) said: “We need to deliver these as quickly as we possibly can.”