Councillors approve Mill Road bridge bus gate in Cambridge
Councillors have voted to approve a bus gate for Mill Road bridge following a special council meeting today (Friday, 4 October).
The decision means the bridge will be closed to all motor vehicles, except buses, pedestrians, cyclists, emergency services, taxis and blue badge holders’ registered vehicles, with work expected to start next month.
Cllr Henry Batchelor, chair of the special highways and transport committee at Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “Today, as the chair of this special committee, we heard from all sides and listened to the concerns raised. There has been a lot of engagement on this project and whilst this was not an easy decision, we agreed restricting most of the traffic over the bridge would be beneficial and give local people more improvements.”
The members considered responses received in the recent statutory notice period for the proposed Traffic Regulation Order (TRO), which ran from 9 August to 13 September.
The council received 1,894 objections (46.5 per cent) - people who said they either wholly and partly objected to the TRO - and 2,155 comments supporting (52.9 per cent) the proposals - people who said they wholly and partly supported them.
The closure will be implemented as a bus gate and blue badge holders will need to register up to two vehicles for exemption via an application form online, which will be available from Monday, 7 October. Blue badge holders will be required to provide a copy of their valid blue badge paperwork.
The council says work will now get under way to implement the bus gate and work is expected to start next month and be completed in December.
The bus gate will be enforced by Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras (ANPR). Once installed, there will be a month where non-exempt vehicles will receive warning notices only and if they are exempt, would be encouraged to register online.
In addition, the council is exploring the public realm, walking and cycling improvements along Mill Road, in collaboration with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority and the Greater Cambridge Partnership.
Read our live blog for more from the meeting.
