A10 Cycle Path: final surfacing of first stretch

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The new cycle path between Foxton and Shepreth is taking shape, and while not quite yet officially open, offers an enticing prospect of cycle riding to come.

Between Foxton Bottom and Fowlmere Road, the path will receive its final surface treatment in the next few days.

Work has moved steadily toward the Cambridge Motel. The motel entrance area will be done last, so as to minimize disruption during the busy Christmas and new year season. Instead work will now move south toward the Frog End junction, and then back to the motel entrance last thing – probably mid-late January.

Another aspect of the current project is to clear back the vegetation on and around the path between Foxton and Harston, all being well before Christmas. The surface is in good condition but is less than a metre wide. The clearance work should restore a 1.5 metre width. Eventually, it is hoped that that path can be widened to the same 2.5 metre width now being applied between Foxton and Shepreth.

Also looking ahead, the Melbourn to Royston path now seems firmly on the County Council radar, and our upcoming meetings with Hertfordshire colleagues should help to push us along in the right direction.

And finally: a soup and hot chocolate party is planned to celebrate the Foxton-Shepreth path – keep an eye out at here for details.

Many thanks to the building crew for doing such a great job.

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VIDEO: The A10 cycle route improvement – a lesson in collaboration?

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ShapeYourPlace.org have visit the construction site of the new section of path along the A10 from Foxton to Frog End. They have seen how things are progressing and spoken to members of the local community. This is the video they produced:

You can see their original article here which includes a brief report.

Newsletter

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There has been  a lot going on lately, so Susan has released a newsletter:

Since our meeting last month there have been some very positive pieces of news, so I’m writing to bring you up to date.

1)  The £300K Cycling Ambition Grant work for Links to Foxton Station, connecting Frog End and Foxton Bottom (gosh, not sure about the name of this route) will be put into action in November, with work taking about eight weeks.  There are no plans per se – it’s all County-owned land and the idea is to ‘walk and build’.  The council is writing to parish councils and residents to keep them informed and they’ve suggested meeting on site early on to discuss any particular snags or concerns that arise – including crossing the A10 and any manageable measures that can be put in place.

2)  Yesterday Patrick Joyce, Jim Chisholm and I met with the agent for the Trumpington Meadows developer (Grosvenors) to discuss expediting the Trumpington Park and Ride to Hauxton cycle link.  The good news is that work will start in December and should be completed by spring, depending on the weather. This is happening in conjunction with work to create the Country Park adjacent to the new housing.  As you may remember from our May 19th Awareness Ride, the northern connecting piece of the route cannot be constructed in a permanent form until the entire housing development is completed, and that will be years not months from now.  So Grosvenors has agreed to create a temporary path for the meantime. This extra path was not in the Section 106 agreement and is down to goodwill.. Probably this will be situated alongside the haulage track that we all cycled down in May, but yesterday we identified another possibility, which the County Council project manager will explore immediately.  In any case, work on one or the other will happen as part of the December-spring work phase.

3)  Shepreth Parish Council has agreed to cover one meeting room hire cost per year, which makes a total of four Cambridgeshire parish councils covering room hire costs.

4) Cllr Fiona Hill of Royston has arranged for us to hold our next meeting at the Coombes Community Centre in Royston on January 14 (evening).

5)  The whole of the Foxton-Bottom – Harston path will be sided out (vegetation pulled back) but with care.  This stretch is in reasonably good condition.

6) We are aware that the siding out of the Royston-Melbourn path actually worsened the path by exposing new pot holes and creating accumulations of gravel.  I’ve mentioned the problem to Patrick Joyce and we will see what we can do about it.  The fact that the path is so bad now actually helps to focus attention on finding a long-term solutions.  I’d like to suggest that we now make a concerted effort to tackle the Melbourn-Royston route, including the path and also exploring options for the roundabout.  To this end I’ve asked Rod Taylor as Royston sub-group representative if he could lead the way on this, and I’m sure this will help us to come well geared up for the Jan 14 meeting in Royston.

7) Thanks to everyone for filling out the Transport Strategy questionnaires – apparently our corner of South Cambs/North Herts had a noticeably high response to the consultation, which can only help our case.

8) Finally, we need to pull together a concise strategy document that our county council officers can refer to in anticipation of funding opportunities.    I was thinking we could draw upon the work that various members did last spring, and which is documented on our website. Please let me know if you would like to contribute to this and perhaps we can present a draft to the meeting in January.

Many thanks.

Susan

£300K for A10 Cycle Path Improvements

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Cambridgeshire County Council’s bid to the Department for Transport for £300K toward cycling infrastructure in our area has been successful. This is part of a larger £4 million bid for the greater Cambridge area. The A10 portion of the bid was made specifically in response to the A10 Corridor Cycling Campaign initiative and indeed one of the criteria for the grant is a demonstration by the County Council that it is working with community groups.  Officially our section of the bid is called ‘Cycle Links to Foxton Station’ – again meeting various criteria and designed to give us the best chance of success.

The Campaign was asked by the County Council at its June meeting how it would recommend any funding be spent, and to indicate whether it would support a 2 metre-wide cycle path or a 2.5 metre-standard. The sum of £300K will pay for roughly 1 kilometre of cycle path so it is a case of patiently working the A10 section by section. The consensus was to tackle the worst stretch of the A10 off-road path in the vicinity of Foxton, from Foxton Bottom to the Shepreth Frog End junction, and to go for a 2.5 metre path in order to establish a high standard for the future. One benefit of improving this particular stretch is that it helps to link several villages, including places of work and education. There are many details to be worked out and confirmed but at least this is a very positive first step.