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Harston traffic calming

Harston is on the A10 trunk road about 8km south of Cambridge. This traffic calming, completed by the Highways Agency early in 1999 consists of 16 central islands over about 1.5 km through the village. Also, the speed limit has been reduced from 40mph to 30mph, and there are about 8 speed responsive signs, an innovation for Cambridgeshire. A new set of traffic signals has been installed at the north end of the village, and gateway markings at both ends.

While speeds have certainly been reduced and pedestrians find it much easier to cross the road, for cyclists the road has been made much worse. Vehicles will not wait, and overtake at the very last possible moment before the islands. Island 14b tapers dangerously inwards, encouraging overtaking when there turns out not to be room to pass a cyclist. Island 15 is in the 50mph limit north of the village so overtaking is even more hazardous here.

Much (but not all) of the footway on both sides has been designated as shared-use for some time. The eastern footway has been resurfaced but the western has not (for most of its length). This is an example of the worst possible kind of shared-use. Both footways are still narrow, and suffer from numerous driveways and minor side roads. The pedestrian flow is not inconsiderable. While arguably suitable for children attending the school (near island 5) and very local cycle traffic, these "facilities" are not suitable for those travelling any distance (in particular, employees at Scientific Generics at Harston Mill (near island 1) have found commuting from Cambridge to be a much more frightening experience than previously.

p0000565 Island 15 (looking S). This is the first island.	p0000567 Island 15, the northern gateway (looking S). The speed limit is 50mph here
p0000571 Island 14b (looking N). This island tapers in heading N, which despite the hatching means drivers start overtaking within the island area	p0000572 Island 14b (looking N)
p0000573 Island 12 (looking S)	p0000575 Islands 10 & 11 (looking S)
p0000576 Islands 10 & 11 (looking S)	p0000577 Island 9, with wide vehicle (looking S)
p0000578 Island 9 (8 in background; looking S)	p0000579 Island 9 (8 in background; looking S)
p0000580 Island 7 (looking S)	p0000581 Island 7, wider than the rest, with a wiggle around it on both sides (looking S)
p0000582 Islands 5 & 6 (7 in background; looking N)	p0000583 Island 5 (6 & 7 in background; looking N)
p0000584 Island 4 (looking S)	p0000585 Island 4 (looking S)
p0000588 Island 4 (looking S)	p0000586 Island 3 (looking S)
p0000587 Island 3 (looking S)	p0000589 Island 2 (looking S)
p0000591 Island 2 (3 in background; looking N)	p0000590 Island 2 (3 in background; looking N)
p0000592 Island 2 (3 in background; looking N)	p0000593 Island 1 (looking S)
p0000594 Island 1 (looking S)	p0000595 Island 1 (looking N)
p0000596 Southern gateway	p0000721 Speed Responsive Sign in operation
p0000574 Speed Responsive Sign