Shailesh Vara MP has secured an important meeting with Martin Fellows, Regional Director for Highways England to discuss safety concerns at various junctions along the A14 in his constituency of North West Cambridgeshire.
Mr Vara is working with District and County Councillor Ian Gardener who is also keen to see improvements made to alleviate the hazards that villagers currently experience.
Mr Vara has been contacted by a number of residents and Parish Councils who are trying to improve the safety at a number of the junctions. These include the junctions at Bythorn and Keyston, Brington, Molesworth, Ellington, Easton, Catworth, Spaldwick and Leighton Bromswold, all of which are impacted by dangerous joining and crossing points on the busy A14 trunk road.
The Parish Councils have been liaising with Highways England for some time asking for improvements to be made to the junctions, but little action has been taken to date.
Mr Vara will chair the meeting which will include Cllr Gardener, representatives from the villages affected as well as Mr Fellows from Highways England. The meeting will provide an opportunity for the local community to put their concerns directly to Highways England and discuss a way forward.
Mr Vara said:
“The A14 is a very busy road and the junctions to a number of the villages are dangerous to road users. This needs to be addressed and it is important that residents are able to directly put their concerns to Highways England. I am grateful to Martin Fellows for agreeing to meet with us and I very much hope that we can agree a way forward which will ensure greater safety for all concerned.
“As well as working towards a longer-term solution, I hope that in the meantime Highways England can be persuaded to take some short-term action to make the junctions safer than they currently are.”
Cllr Ian Gardener added:
“I have been working with the Parish Councils along the A14 and our MP to get improvements to the A14 Junctions between Ellington and Keyston/Bythorn as they are difficult to enter and exit due to their design and the speed and volume of traffic on the A14. The Keyston and Bythorn junction is particularly bad due to visibility and speed issues. I am therefore extremely grateful that our MP Shailesh Vara has secured a meeting with Highways England to discuss this important matter for our residents.”
Cllr Clifford Spink, Parish Councillor for Bythorn and Keyston Parish Council commented:
“Major road improvements to the A14 trunk road, to both the east and west of Junctions 14 – 20, have increased traffic flow on this already hazardous section of road. On a daily basis the general public have to negotiate joining and crossing high speed traffic with no acceleration or deceleration lanes. The Parish Councils are looking for long term modification to these dangerous junctions. In the shorter term we are pressing urgently for risk mitigation measures which include speed restriction, improved signage to indicate hazards, and better vegetation management to facilitate clear line of sight.”
Martin Fellows, Regional Director of Highways England said:
“We appreciate the desire for local parish councils to secure improvements to this section of the A14 and we’re engaging with them to understand their particular concerns about these junctions.”
“While our monitoring of road safety doesn’t show any significant safety issues at these junctions, we’re sympathetic to their concerns. Therefore, we’re currently investigating options for appropriate short-term minor safety improvements.
“We’ve also recognised the need to improve our cyclical maintenance in this area, so from this year our vegetation management will be increased around these junctions to improve visibility.”