Well, we are nearly there now. The Huntingdon Southern Bypass is now fully open and only the sections of the A14 around Bar Hill and a few other small areas are yet to be completed.
However, today I drove back from Histon to Waresley and noticed that the traffic was starting to get heavier now that the lockdown is easing. With a heavy traffic flow it is noticeable that the strange design of the Girton interchange is not immediately navigable for everybody. The choice of taking the east/north-bound A14 flow from the right hand side of the carriageway, up-and-over the flyover to join the north-bound M11 is counter-intuitive and confusing.
This is compounded by the fact that the A428 which goes straight on at this point, is split into two underneath the flyover. The right hand lane of the A428 appearing to go off to the right but in fact veering off to the left and linking up with the left-hand lane as it goes under the flyover. Don’t worry this is as confusing to drive as it is to say! There will be accidents here!
Travelling the other way through the interchange is little better. The A428, here joins with the A14, for the traffic to go round the north part of Cambridge. However, where it goes under the flyover, mysteriously narrows to a single lane. The flyover under which it goes is wide enough for at least two and possibly three lanes. There is a large marked off area where the right-hand lane would be. The effect of this is that the traffic flow is artificially throttled from a fast moving, two lane road, into a slow moving, single lane road.
There is no warning that this major constriction is about to happen. In addition, the flyover is naturally a darkened area which would normally slow traffic in any case. Couple that with the curve in the road at this point and the narrowing of the lanes, and you have a problem. There will be accidents here as well!
Whilst the section of the new A14 to the west of Huntingdon is not all that good, it is at least manageable. The Girton interchange is simply a disaster. I am sure it will become an accident blackspot in the future.
The only conclusion that one can come to is that the whole of this interchange appears to have been designed by someone who doesn’t drive. Such a shame.
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