Cambridge Connect

Fast Forward

Coalition calls on Transport Secretary fully to enable Girton Interchange by 2023

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The need for all-ways connectivity at the Girton Interchange, Cambridge

08:30 am A428 east (Feb 2019) – with reduction to one lane at Girton Interchange.

– Letter to the Secretary of State for Transport

  • A group of Parish Councils, District Councillors and community groups, including Cambridge Connect, has written to the Secretary of State for Transport in an open ‘Letter of Community Consensus‘ requesting that the strategically important Girton Interchange should be upgraded to an all-ways junction.
  • Despite a widespread consensus in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire for this scheme Highways England has yet to commit to delivery of all-ways connections at the junction.
  • Highways England is currently developing its investment plans for 2020-25. It is essential that Highways England include the Girton Interchange in its plan.

The Girton Interchange is a key strategic junction on the Cambridge regional road network, connecting the M11, A14, A428 (to Cambourne / St Neots) and A1307 (Huntingdon Road). It also has important implications for the A1303 (Madingley Road), which currently provides the only means of access to the M11 from the A428. The junction is severely hampered by a lack of all-ways connectivity.

No eastbound connection on the A428 to M11 leads to major queues on Madingley Rise as people try to access the M11 at J13.

Enabling full connectivity will provide faster and more efficient connections on the road network, help to alleviate some of the long-standing congestion problems in the region (e.g. on Madingley Road (A1303) connecting the A428 to the M11), facilitate regional transport links and support economic growth. Moreover, it will improve connections between new housing developments west of Cambridge, the M11 motorway and the rapidly growing biotechnology cluster south of Cambridge city. Longer-term, the junction is vital to proposed improvements to east-west links.

In particular, our ‘Letter of Community Consensus’ made six requests for urgent action:

  1. We request that work on improvements to the Girton Interchange to enable all-ways connectivity be accelerated and given urgent priority as part of the strategic transport improvements needed in this region
  2. We request that the strategic importance of the Girton Interchange be fully recognised by ensuring it is integrated with any mass transit scheme taken forward to the west of Cambridge.
  3. We request that improvements help to reduce, and not exacerbate, the already detrimental impacts of traffic on the local road network and on the immediately surrounding communities.
  4. We request that present proposals to constrict the capacity of the A428 eastbound where it joins the A14 at the Girton Interchange, from the present two lanes down to one lane, be reconsidered in anticipation of future needs.
  5. We request that, where practicable, this work be integrated with on-going work on the A14 to make the most cost-effective use of resources and supporting works already mobilised.
  6. We request that funding be made available and that all stakeholders work together to give their full commitment, with the aim of delivering these improvements by 2023 at the latest.