A virtual exhibition on seven possible options for the A10 between Ely and the A14 closes on Tuesday at 5:00PM – and residents have the opportunity to comment on what’s afoot.

The options include various mixtures of dualling all or part of the A10, dualling on the existing alignment or changing the line of the road at some points, junction improvements, a completely new road sweeping across fields from Milton to Ely, or the junction improvements alone with no dualling at all.

The survey for residents to comment on the options is here.

My view?

The priorities for East Cambridgeshire need to be to increase safety, reduce vehicle traffic, improve air quality, and promote public transport, walking, and cycling. It is difficult to walk or cycle along the A10, or to cross it safely, and this needs to be urgently addressed.

Traffic on the A10 has been worsened by the opening of the Ely Southern Bypass, and by the number of vehicles including HCVs that this has attracted. The dualling options would make the A10 a more attractive route for motorists which would encourage even more vehicle traffic onto the road.

All the available options show the A10 continuing to join the A142 at the BP roundabout at Ely. Encouraging more private motor traffic onto the A10 would make the existing queues at this location worse not better. (And what happens when all these additional vehicles arrive at the A14 at Milton?) Options involving dualling would cost up to half a billion pounds, and take many years to complete.

Junction improvements (Option G) could be carried out quickly and cost effectively, and solve many of the problems people face. They would need to be accompanied by significant improvements to public transport between Cambridge and Ely, encouraging future residents of the new settlement in Waterbeach to travel sustainably to new jobs at the Lancaster Way Enterprise Zone not just into Cambridge; and by the installation of safe crossing points for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders at the A10/A142 junction and other junctions along the route.

I am very disappointed at the failure to indicate important sustainable travel features in the proposals, including the promised accompanying infrastructure for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders; the promised new segregated Park & Ride route from Waterbeach into Cambridge; and the promised safe route for people to cross the A10 at or near the Witchford Road BP roundabout. These should all have been given as much priority as the attention given to provision for private motor vehicles.

Any changes to the A10 must be accompanied by good public transport alternatives, in particular improved rail capacity, with longer platforms and Ely North junction improvements to allow longer and more frequent trains.