Cambridge gridlocked: Frustration grows at ‘unprecedented’ levels of roadworks
Frustration is mounting over Cambridge’s gridlocked road network – but a senior councillor responsible for highways has warned the huge rise in roadworks means it is “as good as it’s going to get” for the forseeable future.
Commuters, bus users and cyclists have been left dismayed in recent weeks as they try to navigate the city’s cluttered roads, often facing miles of tailbacks.
But Cllr Alex Beckett (Lib Dem), who chairs the highways and transport committee at Cambridgeshire County Council, warns there is little scope for improvement because of the “unprecedented demand” for street works. These have been mostly led by fibre broadband and utilities companies, while road network improvements and work on new housing developments have added to the demand. Applications for roadworks licences have risen from 26,000 in 2016 to 48,000 per year across the county, Cllr Beckett revealed.
Now he fears new plans to blitz potholes could cause even more traffic snarl-ups as barriers are put in place to deal with the problem. He begged drivers to remain calm after reports of a number of abusive exchanges with council contractors – including one which left a man injured.
Cllr Beckett said: “The number of street works going on has more than doubled. It’s huge across the entire county, but particularly in the city.
“The government has a priority to ensure something like 85 per cent of the country has digital connectivity by 2025, so that’s been huge. It’s the first time probably in decades that every single house in the city has had to have a new fibre connection and have their road dug up to do it.
“Before 2020, we had eight telecoms providers in the area. We now have 27 that are digging up the roads. All of that just massively compounds the problem – and then we’ve had Cadent Gas coming up with some huge works and National Grid electricity is also doing huge works. It’s a big issue for us trying to schedule as much of it as carefully as we can.
“Our StreetWorks team is fantastic. What you see on Cambridge’s roads is despite them doing everything they can; if they weren’t, it would be 100 times worse. They are often putting people off doing roadworks. I believe they have managed to delay some works by Cadent Gas until 2027 just because of the amount of pressure on the network at the moment. And they are always trying to get people to work together so they don’t do two separate sets of digging.
“We always try and get the major work done during school holidays. The unfortunate thing is now that there’s just so much of it that we can’t do it all during school holidays, because it would never get completed.”
He warned it is good as it will get “at the moment”. But he hopes “the fibre works will start to ease off in the next few years… it’s not going to suddenly get better overnight. There’s just so much going on in our city.”
He added: “Obviously, the more people we can get on public transport or the more people we can enable not to be in their cars, the better.”
Closures in Coldhams Lane, the ongoing Greater Cambridge Partnership work in Milton Road and temporary lights in Fen Ditton are just a few of the ongoing schemes.
Bus firm Stagecoach East reiterated its call again this week for action to limit the disruption.
Cambridge resident Kasia Drabek complained that “the unprecedented and highly disruptive simultaneous road works” have caused “significant concern within our community in Cambridge”. Kasia added: “The decision to conduct construction on multiple sides concurrently has resulted in severe disruptions affecting pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers alike. The community is grappling with challenges such as restricted access for pedestrians, difficulty in safe cycling, and heightened stress levels among drivers navigating through the ongoing construction every day.
“The situation has created a pervasive atmosphere of frustration and inconvenience, with every category of road user expressing dissatisfaction and anger. It is evident that the simultaneous roadworks are negatively impacting the quality of life for residents in Cambridge.”
Resident Max Laverack has been frustrated by Worts Causeway work.
Max said: “It closes the helpful ‘bypass’ that the Park & Ride buses and other services take into the city centre to avoid peak-time congestion. It’s causing long delays to bus services on the Hills Road/Babraham Road corridor. I appreciate it is just one of many examples of disruptive roadworks in Cambridge at the moment, but I am guessing I’m not the only one who is frustrated that this came into effect with pretty much no warning and that it’s making journeys into work even longer than usual.”
Cambridgeshire County Council’s traffic management centre said: “There has been an unprecedented increase in demand for works to be carried out in Cambridge city.”
While the team has been able to delay some works, legally they are obliged under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 to install and maintain apparatus.
“Permit officers will impose appropriate conditions on a case-by-case basis,” the centre explained.
“We may refuse a permit if it conflicts with another set of works already granted, or seek opportunities for collaborative working between one or more works promoters. The majority of major disruptive works have meetings before works commence to assess the impact.”