Critical gaps' still being uncovered four years on - with situation slammed as 'unacceptable'
Councillors have called for the “negative legacies” of the A14 project to be addressed as they said problems are still being uncovered four years on. Issues such as sinking bridges, damaged roads, missing pathways and road signs were raised by councillors at a Cambridgeshire County Councilmeeting this week (October 22). However, the concerns raised were described as just being the “tip of the iceberg”.
The National Highways project to build the new A14 road between Cambridge and Huntingdoncost £1.5billion. It opened in 2020 and was described as a project that “pushed boundaries” and would offer “benefits for many years to come”. While councillors recognised there had been benefits from the scheme, including some areas seeing reduced traffic after the rerouting, concerns were shared about “the problems left behind”.
Councillor Edna Murphy (Liberal Democrat) said despite the project being declared a success by National Highways, she said it “directly caused damage and created problems which persist today”. She presented a motion calling for the county council to put together a report highlighting all the outstanding issues so that they could be documented.
Cllr Murphy also called for MPs, the new minister for transport, and National Highways to be “more responsive” to problems from the A14 project being raised by people and to look at how they can be addressed. Cllr Murphy said: “The negative legacies of the project are very diverse and broadly include things that were done that need to be fixed, things that were lost which need to be reinstated, as well as things that were promised but not delivered. There are defective constructions and damaged roads, which default to the council to fix and maintain, but we do not have adequate funding for that.
Cllr Murphy went on to say that more information was needed around other promises made, including for the thousands of new trees. She said many of these trees had died and a replanting programme was undertaken, but said there had been “radio silence” on how this was going. She said people were “extremely concerned” and wanted more information.
Cllr Murphy also highlighted the commitment that there would be biodiversity net gain of 11.5 per cent. She said it was a “specific benefit” of the project, but said the website now only mentioned “environmental improvements” with “no information to back it up”. She said it was “vital” to learn from the experience of going through this project.
Cllr Murphy said she hoped the county council could be active in trying to help get organisations to solve these issues.
Councillor Graham Wilson (Liberal Democrat) said people living in his area had benefited from the rerouting of the A14, including seeing “significantly reduced traffic in Godmanchester”. However, he said there was “still lots to do on the old road”, responsibility for which he said had now passed to the county council. Cllr Wilson said there are still speed restrictions in place on the A1307 while safety barriers are replaced and flooding issues looked at. He said it is “time that these issues are sorted out quickly”.
Story Originally Appeared : https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/sinking-bridges-damaged-roads-broken-30212557
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