New call for bridge at A10 level crossing where you could ‘read a newspaper while waiting’
A fresh call has been made to build a bypass around the A10 level crossing in Foxton, with a councillor claiming people wait so long at the barriers they could “read a newspaper”.
Discussions about building a bypass bridge or closing the level crossing on the busy road date back years.
In 2015, the ‘Foxton level crossing and interchange’ was included on a list of priority projects as part of discussions for City Deal funding, now managed by the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP).
In 2018, the GCP combined the A10 level crossing bypass scheme with plans to build a travel hub in the village.
However, the next year the projects were split, with the level crossing bypass passed to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.
In 2019, the Combined Authority chose to prioritise building the A605 Kings Dyke level crossing bridge instead of the Foxton project, which was dropped.
The GCP also later paused the plans to build the Foxton travel hub due to a lack of money to complete all its projects.
At a meeting of the Combined Authority’s transport and infrastructure committee this week (November 4), Cllr Peter McDonald, from South Cambridgeshire District Council, asked for the Foxton level crossing bypass project to be revisited.
He raised the point during a discussion over plans to look at problems on the A10 corridor between Cambridge and Ely.
Cllr McDonald (Lib Dem, Duxford) noted the update only looked at the A10 north of Cambridge.
He said the “poor residents” in Foxton had been asking for a level crossing bridge for years and said you could “read a newspaper” during the long wait for the barrier to lift.
Cllr McDonald asked if the project could be looked at again by the Combined Authority in the future.
Meanwhile, councillors heard a strategic transport review had been undertaken for the Ely to Cambridge Corridor Study which set out a timeline for further reviews. The work is intended to bolster economic growth and enhance residents’ quality of life.
Cllr Alan Sharp (Con, Woodditton), from East Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “I welcome that we seem to be getting to the next stage of what will finally happen with this road, because there is a lot of congestion along that road and we need to do something. I broadly welcome it, but I am looking forward to seeing more detail.”
Cllr Anna Smith (Lab, Coleridge), deputy mayor and representative from Cambridge City Council, said any work on the corridor needed to consider the impact on the Milton Interchange junction. She said they could not “simply move traffic to a junction that is not able to cope with it”. Cllr Smith also asked for road safety to be “right at the centre” of any plans that come forward.
