Royal Cambridge Hotel junction

This article was published in 2005, in Newsletter 62.

We have campaigned for improvements to the Royal Cambridge Hotel junction (where Lensfield Road, Fen Causeway, Trumpington Street and Trumpington Road meet) for many years now, due to its appalling crash record, particularly injuries caused by cars failing to give way to cycles on the roundabouts.

Recently a set of plans for some improvements was drawn up by Cambridgeshire County Council, and we wrote back with comments and suggestions. We have long argued unsuccessfully that the best way to reduce accidents here would be to add traffic lights to the junction (a fact that Cambridge Cycling Campaign and the County Council’s safety auditors are agreed on).

See our letter for more details.

www.camcycle.org.uk/campaigning/letters/2004/#NC05001

Nothing in these proposals is likely to reduce the current types of accident occurring at this junction.
Image as described adjacent

The County Council tried to get funding to make these changes at the same time as resurfacing the road. A bid for resurfacing was duly made and the condition of the road at this location ranked against other sites across the county. Unfortunately other sites ranked more highly, so the Royal Cambridge Hotel Junction is not included in the maintenance programme for 2005/6.

The possibility of getting funding through the annual safety programme was also explored, but the safety auditors said ‘Nothing in these proposals is likely to reduce the current type of accidents occurring at this junction’ so no budget would be available from this source.

We have since sent a letter with a modified set of changes including ramps or raised tables at the entrances, decreasing corner radiuses, improved road markings and permitting contraflow cycling in Panton Street so that some cyclists can avoid the junction.

www.camcycle.org.uk/campaigning/letters/2005/#NC05003

We understand that at the moment plans for Core Stage 4 are taking priority, so don’t expect to see much progress in the immediate future.

We will now be campaigning for plans to be drawn up from the suggestions in this letter. These plans could then be submitted to the Accident Investigation Team for them to assess with a Safety Audit. Should this audit state that the plans have potential for accident reduction, an application could be made under the annual safety programme.

Richard Taylor