Amanda Taylor

News and views about Cambridge and Cambridgeshire politics, especially Queen Edith's Learn more

Calling for a traffic survey on Hills Road

by admin on 7 July, 2014

Today I attended Cambridgeshire County Council‘s Economy & Environment Committee, which was voting (for the second time this year) on segregated cycle lanes for Hills and Huntingdon Roads. The project had first been considered in May but deferred on safety grounds, including many raised by myself on behalf of local residents.

I called for a traffic survey to measure traffic speeds and behaviour before and after the scheme, as well as representing residents’ mixed views on the scheme.

Thank you for allowing me to speak.

I am speaking particularly about Hills Rd, as the stretch concerned runs through Queen Edith’s. It is the part between the notorious Hills Rd bridge and Long Road.

Local views are mixed. Although people want the cycling environment made safer, my residents have articulated the concerns you heard at your last meeting: floating bus stops and how pedestrians would manage

I know this aspect has been improved and I welcome the wider islands and the refashioning of the cycle lane near bus stops. I still have my doubts about whether this is the right place for such a scheme, given the heavy volumes of different road users (2400 getting on the bus)

But residents have other concerns which are very local: how it affects the roads:

Concern about what will happen when tradesmen visit, as not all properties have their own drives.
Rat-running: if cars get held up behind buses there is a risk they will become impatient and divert into streets off Hills Road. Four of these have schools, with children from 2 upwards, many of them walking or cycling to school.

I would like a traffic survey to be carried out before and after the scheme is input.

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  1. […] bus stops, and changes were made. It was passed in July 2014 at the second time of asking, with an undertaking to conduct traffic surveys before and after […]

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