.
The Financial Times reports today that the Government is set to drop its proposal for tolling on the A14 after the proposed widening is put in place. The article begins:
‘Danny Alexander is poised to give the go-ahead to a £1.5bn project to expand a vital road artery in East Anglia after dropping plans for a toll on the route.’
Although this will have a limited direct impact on Histon & Impington it will mean that other parts of the County do not suffer rat running by motorists seeking to avoid the toll. And of course H&I residents will be spared the expense if they need to use the A14 to drive north and north-west.
There’s expected to be a formal announcement in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on Thursday.
Has the consutancy now finished? I have seen very little of the proposal apart from what is on their website – which not very detailed.
The impact on our village that will be caused by the shutting of the Oakington/Dry Drayton junction onto the A14 will depend on the proposed local road (from Fen Drayton to Bar Hill). Without more detail it is hard to estimate the cumulative effect on traffic through Histon/Impington. However, if it does not enable better access (time and distance travelled) to the A14 (going east and west) to residents from Oakington, Girton, Westwick and Cottenham, the impact on our villages will be detrimental.
Is there a way of getting more detail on the proposed local road and perhaps having some input to it’s requirements?
Yes it is. The Highways Agency is now developing more detailed plans, which now need to account for teh absence of any tolling revenue, and we will see them next year.
Agree that the devil will be in the detail and travellers heading east along the A14 will either have to join the A14 south of the village, which I guess most do, or by going first north to the Bar Hill junction.
I will be particulary keen to see how resilient the new roads will be to the sort of A14 issue which we had last Wednesday.