SIX.. Area-wide solutions: Primary cycle routes

Case study

Bar Hill: a case-study for improving connections between areas

Bar Hill is one of a number of areas where cyclists are poorly provided for and serves as a good example of how routes could be opened up.

The village has a large population, many of whom work in Cambridge. Despite this, there is currently no route provided for cycling between Cambridge and Bar Hill. The A14 is very problematic for cyclists and the alternatives still involve many hostile fast roads.

This is in marked contrast to the new NCN 11 cycle route from Great Shelford to Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Although the width of this route is still inadequate, it’s a vast improvement on the previously available alternatives.

There is already a paved route from Bar Hill to Dry Drayton and there is a chance to create a cycle route similar in quality (but preferably wider) to NCN 11 which extends all the way into the Cambridge. The land on which this route would run is largely farmland owned by the University of Cambridge but because of the Cambridge North West Strategy the area has an uncertain future. It is essential that the route is built before use of the land is changed. It would be welcomed by the people of Bar Hill and take cars off the A14.

The planned A14 improvements raise the possibility of a new road for local traffic running parallel to the existing road and it is essential that such work should include the creation of a cycle route, such as an off-road cycle path alongside the road. This would be the shortest available route into the city and would meet all the cyclists’ requirements of speed, safety and convenience.