What are the issues?

Congestion on the A14 has become a growing problem over the past decade and is especially severe on the section between Huntingdon and Fen Ditton in Jim’s constituency. In morning peak times, traffic runs well over capacity and in certain areas the average speed falls below 20 mph. In addition commuters will well know how a problem on the A14 can gridlock the entire county. 

A major cause of the congestion is that HGVs make up 17-22 per cent of the traffic on the A14 in Cambridgeshire. According to the Department of Transport, this is higher than the national average. As most of the Cambridgeshire section of the A14 is only dual carriage way, cars become segregated onto the outer lane during peak times and congestion is exacerbated. 

It is estimated that over the next 10 years overall traffic on the A14 will increase by 15% and so the current problems are only going to get worse.

What is being done?

The previous government had agreed to a £1.1 billion capacity improvement scheme, but the Coalition Government dropped this during the Comprehensive Spending Review due to the hefty price tag. 

The Government remains committed to improving conditions on the A14 and in the Autumn Statement of November 2011, following lobbying by local MPs and Councillors, the Chancellor announced a £20m programme of measures between Ellington and Fen Ditton which includes improvements to the Girton and Spittals interchanges as well as other measures to try and ease congestion and delays caused by accidents.

What can I do?

In addition to these measures the Government has also affirmed its commitment to long term improvement for A14 travellers and, to that end, have launched the A14 Challenge which seeks to bring together the opinions and expertise of those who use the A14 in order to create a solution with broad public support and a lower price tag than the previous scheme.

The consultation closed at the end of January 2012 and the results will be published in Spring 2012.