Highways Agency

• A14 Ellington to Fen Ditton

A14 Ellington to Fen Ditton

The Need for the Scheme

The A14 trunk road serves several important purposes in this area

• It is a strategic route of national importance which connects the motorways of the Midlands and the North of England to the City of Cambridge, East Anglia, the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich, and the M11 to the south;
• It is the most important route for local traffic linking Huntingdon and Cambridge with St Ives and other towns and villages in the area;
• The A14 Cambridge Northern Bypass provides access for local traffic to the "northern fringe" areas of Cambridge, including the Cambridge Science Park.

Many sections of the A14 are currently operating close to capacity, with an average of 65,000 to 85,000 vehicles per day using the route. Up to 25% of the traffic is heavy goods vehicles, which is about twice the national average for this type of road. Consequently, the A14 experiences severe congestion, particularly during peak hours, which results in unreliable journey times.

The Highways Agency recognises that reducing the number of accidents on the A14 is an important objective. Whilst there have been serious accidents on the A14 in recent years, the majority of accidents are minor in nature, reflecting the congested traffic conditions, but can quickly cause severe disruption over a wide area.

Cambridgeshire has been identified as a high growth area, with a view to providing both new housing and employment (such as that proposed for the new settlement of Northstowe located just to the north of the A14). Improvements to the trunk road network, as well as to public transport, will be required to sustain this level of growth.

Travel Conditions

Without the proposed improvements, future traffic growth, including that associated with planned developments, would have severe implications on the existing A14 trunk road. Total peak-hour travel times averaged across all journeys in the Huntingdon area are expected to increase by 97% by 2029 with increased queuing and delays. Average speeds are expected to reduce by 34% to 25 mph compared to around 38mph at present.

Worsening congestion on the A14 would encourage some traffic to continue to use other minor routes in preference to the A14.

The proposed scheme would provide more highway capacity along the A14 corridor which would significantly improve travel conditions and reduce traffic congestion on the A14 and other roads in the area. This would lead to reduced journey times and improved journey time reliability. Journey times in the morning peak along the A14 between Ellington and Fen Ditton are predicted to reduce by up to 21% with the scheme in 2029, which equates to a saving of around 8 minutes off the present journey time.

Safety

At the Highways Agency we want to reduce serious and minor accidents on the A14.  The proposed scheme would provide very good safety benefits.  Between 1999-2004, there were 852 accidents on the existing A14:

• 732 minor injuries
• 106 serious injuries
• 14 fatal

This is about the level of accidents expected on similar trunk roads.  But a particular problem is that, because of high traffic flows, any accidents or breakdowns are likely to cause long delays.