Our awareness ride is coming together nicely for Sunday May 15th. We could do with some volunteer marshals to come forward. This isn’t too strenuous, it really just involves keeping an eye out at a couple of the busier crossing. If you can help, then please get in touch.
Annual awareness rides and path updates
The annual A10 Awareness Cycle Ride will take place on the morning of Sunday May 15. The ride is expected to start at Trumpington Park and Ride, heading out to Phillimore Garden Centre, Melbourn, for tea and cake. This will be a great opportunity to experience first-hand the new off-road cycle path connecting Harston to Foxton and Shepreth.
It has been decided that the Royston-Melbourn segment is too dangerous to include on this year’s ride. We are continuing to work for a safe link to Royston, our nearest market town.
We will post more detailed plans for the ride closer to the time. Reports from previous rides can be seen here
Elsewhere, the path near Foxton is now within 200 meters of the railway line which requires a special permit from Network Rail to continue. This is standard practice and usually takes 4 to 5 weeks and has been applied for, so hopefully this section can be finished soon.
A cycle campaign for Bassingbourn
A group of like minded people are trying to start a campaign to try and push for a cyclepath between Bassingbourn and Royston. There have been a couple of incidents recently where people have been knocked off their bikes travelling on the A1198. 3 people on bicycles were driven into only a few weeks ago with some extremely unpleasant injuries sustained. The A1198 is the only realistic choice for getting to Royston and the railway station etc. so this route is of great importance to the local area for non motorised users.
The meeting will be on Monday 21 March at 7pm at The belle pub, Mill Lane, Bassingbourn.
Next meeting
Path work update
The crew working on the path have had to stop for a couple of weeks to to attend to an island further along the A10. Work should begin again soon.
The path has been left in a decent enough state up to within a couple of hundred meters of Foxton level crossing. The lower tarmac surface is there, so it’s a bit bumpy but perfectly passable in the short term.
How much!
A letter in the Crow on Feb 11th stated that the Royston to Cambridge cycle pathway would cost around £70 million!
In fact the estimate for a bridge over the A505 is about £1.5 million, and a connecting path to Melbourn about £1 million. The recently completed Harston Mill – Shepreth Lakes cycle path has come in under budget at around £1 million.
To put these figures in context, a single carriageway road costs about 12 times as much per mile as a cycle path, with none of the associated health and environmental benefits. The A10 paths are designed as ‘dual use’ for all non-vehicle users, providing safe route between villages for walkers, runners, mobility scooters and enabling children to ride or walk short distances independently.
So far, funds spent on the A10 have come directly from Dept of Transport’s ‘Cycling Ambition Grant’ for projects to encourage more people to cycle safely, improve their physical/mental health and reduce congestion and pollution. The fund is ringfenced and cannot be used to repair potholes, upgrade public toilets or other general purposes.
A recent Dept of Transport report ‘Claiming the Health Dividend’ showed overwhelming value for money from investment in walking and cycling, reducing costs to the NHS from illnesses associated with inactive lifestyles.
Can you help us learn about the A10 path usage.
A short survey has been created to help us learn more about who is cycling the A10 and why. Please could you fill out and circulate:
Work has begun on the Shepreth to Foxton path
Work has the begun on the Foxton to Shepreth part of the path by the A10. The work is scheduled to take about 12 weeks. This is another positive step in creating a continuous high quality path for the people who wish to cycle, walk, run, scoot etc. to and from Trumpington and the places in between or beyond.
For those that wondered, the historic mile stone giving the distance to Cambridge (not far on a bike!) is being sympathetically re-positioned very close to its original location.
Sponsored Santa Ride Report
Saturday December 19th saw us dress up, decorate our bikes and embark on our Sponsored Santa ride. About 20 members and councillors joined us at the start for a tour of the infrastructure around Royston.
All set to go
The purpose is to initiate match-funding opportunities toward a safe off-road A10 path and A505 bridge, linking Melbourn and Royston.
Although some high quality cycle path is being built at the northern end, the Melbourn-Royston stretch remains a rough walking track that has disintegrated and overgrown to such an extent that it resembles little more that a building site. The A10 roundabout at the A505 junction is a busy and dangerous crossing. We want to show Local, Regional and National Government and local businesses that we local residents are prepared to do our bit to help bring about much-needed safe cycling conditions.
Our JustGiving page,for community fundraising on missing A10 cycle links, can be found here. It is open until December 23rd. Donations are still welcome.
Some very good work has been done in Royston, particularly the railway underpass, so we made out way from the station out to the underpass, stopping the view the first class and hugely popular BMX track that has been built
Viewing the BMX track
We than headed down the A10/ A505 roundabout. There is a very good selection of cycle tracks here by the existing housing estate. We looked from the track and all envisaged how good the bridge would be. You are so close here to the employment, leisure centre, schools and other facilities that Royston and Melbourn have to offer. Those of us who had ridden in from Melbourn were all to painfully aware how difficult this is becoming for non-motorised users with the existing path now in bits and the dual carriageway crossing extremely hostile at peak times.
Some shots around Royston including of the proposed bridge crossing site:
We followed the cycle paths past the school and leisure centre and were soon by the town centre. Quite a few children were excited to see Santa on his bike!
With a better cycle path, Santa could have brought has trailer along the A10 and filled his trailer with presents too!
We did a loop of the town centre and arrived back at the station, all happy to have had a ride and a get together.
Finished
A huge thank you to everybody who attended, especially so close the Christmas.
A massive thank you to all who have donated and left messages of support as well, helping to surpass our target.
Foxton to Harston path progress
The progress has been rapid between Barrington Road and Harston Mill for part 1 of the scheme.
The final surface is now laid on this stretch. Initial reports are good, with people reporting a huge positive difference in the experience, especially with the recent poor weather, most notably the side winds that could make cycling on the old path a white knuckle experience.
The views from Barrington Road upto the bridge:
