A10 Waterbeach this morning.

[Mark1978]

Hi all,

Saw a cyclist down at the Waterbeach traffic lights on the A10 this morning, ambulance in attendance. Hope they are OK.

 

[mjr]

There are traffic lights at Waterbeach now? Which junction?

Guess that shows I'm avoiding that road. Used it once last year and not since. Hope they recover.

 

[Mark1978]

A10 and Denny End Road, lights have been there for years. It looked like someone had possibly tried to squeeze past, between the cyclist and the small reservation in the middle of the road that has the lights on it coming from Cambridge. It scares me every time I see a cyclist on the A10 because I've seen how impatient people can get on that road.

 

[mjr]

Thanks. Those lights can't change enough for me to remember them from driving (not that I drive to Cambridge much: train is easier) and I've no reason to go that far north on the A10 by bike. I really do think Cambridgeshire should complete the cycle track between Waterbeach and Little Thetford and upgrade the existing bits to a decent spec. The official Ely-Cambridge Route 11 that takes a 12 mile detour over gravel and a footbridge is a bad joke and Twenty Pence Road is longer and also nasty in rush hour, so I guess people ride on the A10 carriageway because at least it's over quicker

 

[Mark1978]

Agreed, when I do commute in from Downham to Cambridge on the bike, the worst bit is Twenty Pence road by far.

 

[Glow worm]

We've been campaigning for years for a link across the river Cam at Bottisham Lock, Waterbeach too (to join the existing route up to Wicken and Ely) but as happens so often there is just one landowner who won't have it. Very frustrating.

 

[Elybazza61]

Been using the A10 for a bit now when I do commute all the way in as iy is the quickest route in.

It is usually pretty early(around 6:00ish)so traffic isn't quite so bad then,in fact since I've had the Exposure and Alpkit lights traffic does seem to be giving me more room when passing;there's also two other guys from the club who commute in fairly regularly on the A10 too.

Twenty Pence road at this time of year is pretty bad for being covered in crap (of all sorts) although it does seem to get cleaned up every now and then.

The Wicken route is ok but it's a long run in and would need some good lights to see your way in the dark I would think.

Other alternatives are the Burwell/Swaffhams route or even further going via Earith and then picking the busway up;the latter is probably the quietest road route but also the longest.

Oh and hope the bod is ok from this morning.

 

[mjr]

We've been campaigning for years for a link across the river Cam at Bottisham Lock, Waterbeach too (to join the existing route up to Wicken and Ely) but as happens so often there is just one landowner who won't have it. Very frustrating.

Who's "we"? And it's sick that landowners are allowed to block cycleways, but if it was a motorway and only one or two landowners, it'd be compulsory purchased in a heartbeat.

 

[Glow worm]

Who's "we"? And it's sick that landowners are allowed to block cycleways, but if it was a motorway and only one or two landowners, it'd be compulsory purchased in a heartbeat.

I know it's scandalous. I've long thought that if we were really serious about sustainable transport in the UK (which of course we're not) , some kind of compulsory purchase should be available for such critical routes (this one would not only provide a key off road route into Cambridge but would also allow them of us what live to the east of the Cam, easy access to our closest as the crow flies, railway station at Waterbeach).
I better not say in public who the 'we' are as it's a rather sensitive issue, but it's a loose collective of Lodes Way users, combined with shall we say by key local partners.

Apologies for slightly derailing the thread and hope the cyclist in the OP is OK

 

[mjr]

Apologies for slightly derailing the thread and hope the cyclist in the OP is OK

Good point. I've started a new rant at https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/landowners-blocking-cycleways.192078/ so we can leave this for updates to the OP.