Heidi Allen, MP for South Cambridgeshire today welcomed the announcement that Highways England have selected the ‘Orange Route’ for the A428 between Black Cat and Caxton Gibbet. The route, which runs north of the current A428 in contrast to the two southern options considered, was selected following consideration of over 4000 consultation responses from local residents and businesses.
Highways England Programme Leader for the A428, Lee Galloway said “I am pleased to announce that after careful consideration of more than 4000 responses to our public consultation last year and extensive technical design work, including environmental analysis and traffic growth forecasting, Highways England will be taking forward development of the Orange route and Option C for the Black Cat roundabout.
Both of these options were widely supported in our consultation and our assessment shows that these offer the most benefit for road users, significantly reducing congestion and rat running through local communities whilst also providing the best value for money.”
Heidi supported selection of the Orange route and advocated for it when the schemes were first announced over two years ago. Heidi said “This selection is great news for the residents and businesses of South Cambridgeshire who increasingly use the A428 to connect South Cambridgeshire to the wider region. Their lives have been blighted by major delays in peak periods which cause disruption over a wide area. The bottlenecks caused by the single-carriageway, roundabouts and junctions should be alleviated by this scheme, which aims to increase capacity, support growth, improve safety and reduce the environmental impact of this road.
Residents have been crying out for a solution to the problems caused by the Caxton Gibbet roundabout and the proposed 2 Tier layout should ensure that traffic can continue to move freely at this important junction. For many of my villages including Papworth Everard and Cambourne these changes cannot come soon enough.
The route selection marks an important milestone towards delivery of the project. What is important now is that Highways England gets on and delivers this major improvement to road infrastructure in our region. I am committed to doing everything in my power to ensure construction starts as soon as possible.”
Further information about the A428 can be found here - https://highwaysengland.co.uk/projects/a428-black-cat-to-caxton-gibbet/.