New openings

Map showing the four routes.

Developments in the south part of Cambridge should in the longer term improve permeability for both cycling and walking, even though there are some terrible junctions. Although not completely finished, three routes are now open, with a fourth expected shortly.

1. There have been complaints that the left turn from Brookgate into Hills Road has no Advanced Stop Box and that those on cycles get squeezed by buses. Now there is another route for those leaving the station and wishing to go south to Hills or Cherry Hinton Roads. Shortly after the Brookgate turn, and on the right, there is a cut-through to the rear of a new building, which then leads to the access road to the Network Rail signalling centre. From there a ramp leads to the recent Toucan crossing over the Hills Road bridge approach.
   Although this is longer than the route via Brookgate, it avoids the lights at the Hills Road/Brookgate/ Brooklands Avenue junction. On balance I’d also expect it to be quicker.
2. On the fringe development which many of us still know as Clay Farm, the spine road through Great Kneighton is, although closed to motor vehicles, passable on foot or bike. House construction continues apace at both ends, and you might think you are just entering a closed construction site, but there is a route through, passing the new square which will have rising bollards to prevent through traffic, and across the Busway.
3. Further south the route has opened that leads through the Trumpington Meadows Country Park and avoids the M11 Junction 11 with the A10 This is a good utility or leisure route, although I hear some have suffered punctures, as a hawthorn hedge has been cut by flailing. See also previous article at: www.camcycle.org.uk/newsletters/115/article2.html
4. The last of these new routes will be that from the Busway path, through the Kaleidoscope development, to Clarendon Road and hence Brooklands Avenue. Certainly for many on cycles, using the Busway path, who wish to access the city centre via Hills Road, this will be better than the alternatives via Brookgate or Station Road. In early November it looks as though the last flats are now being occupied, workmens’ huts removed, and some ground restored. With this finished, there can then be no excuse for not opening the route fully.

The currently unimproved Trumpington to Addenbrooke’s path crosses the spine road here.

Located between housing construction sites the spine road in Great Kneighton is open.

Jim Chisholm