Cambridgeshire puts Haverhill rail link issue on the table
Tuesday, 14th May 2013.
A top-level strategy document about future transport plans in South Cambridgeshire focuses on the Cambridge to Haverhill corridor and the renewal of the rail link.
Representatives and officers from Cambridgeshire County Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council who make up their joint strategic transport and spatial planning group will meet tomorrow and and consider a draft transport strategy to underpin the councils' development plans to 2031.
In the period between 2013 and 2031, around 33,000 new dwellings are proposed to be built in and around the city and in South Cambridgeshire, and the document says transport is a key consideration for planning for this future growth and promoting a sustainable pattern of development.
A wide variety of issues are addressed and options listed, but the crucial element from Haverhill's point of view comes in the appendix which outlines a vision for the strategy, particularly the Cambridge-Haverhill corridor.
It lists the following options:
Short term:
Bus priority measures at key pinch points on the A1307 between Haverhill and Cambridge.
Rural Interchange facilities on main bus routes in corridor.
Cambridge/Haverhill/Saffron Walden study, a transport study looking at travel demand, network performance and future needs in the area to the southeast of Cambridge, including detailed consideration of trip-making on the A1301, A1307 and A505. Work would feed from this into consideration of High Quality Passenger Transport (HQPT) options for the Haverhill to Cambridge corridor in the medium to longer term.
Medium to longer term:
HQPT Bus priority option:
High quality bus priority Haverhill to edge of Cambridge. Options include:
A1307 comprehensive bus priority, Cambridge to Haverhill.
Twin-track busway parallel to A1307.
Single track tidal Busway parallel to A1307.
Twin-track busway, Haverhill to Shelford/Addenbrookes on the alignment of the old Haverhill to Cambridge railway.
Hybrid A1307/railway alignment busway.
Park and Ride. Additional capacity in Linton area linked to HQPT corridor.
HQPT Rail option:
Re-open Haverhill to Cambridge railway line.
Earlier in the document the commitment is clear: "Between Cambridge and the surrounding market towns, it is proposed that High Quality Passenger Transport (HQPT) corridors will be enhanced, or where no HQPT option exists, delivered."
The options throughout are wide-ranging and ambitious. There is mention of new railway stations, and also of a dual carriageway city outer ring road which would link Trumpington, Addenbrooke's and Cherry Hinton, via a tunnel under the Gog Magog Hills if required.
The visionary approach is in stark contrast to the absence of planning for Haverhill to Cambridge transport links noted in the new Suffolk Transport Policy and in St Edmundsbury Borough Council's Vision 2031 document, although that does include a commitment to work with the Cambridgeshire authorities on improvements to the A1307.
Representatives and officers from Cambridgeshire County Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridge City Council who make up their joint strategic transport and spatial planning group will meet tomorrow and and consider a draft transport strategy to underpin the councils' development plans to 2031.
In the period between 2013 and 2031, around 33,000 new dwellings are proposed to be built in and around the city and in South Cambridgeshire, and the document says transport is a key consideration for planning for this future growth and promoting a sustainable pattern of development.
A wide variety of issues are addressed and options listed, but the crucial element from Haverhill's point of view comes in the appendix which outlines a vision for the strategy, particularly the Cambridge-Haverhill corridor.
It lists the following options:
Short term:
Bus priority measures at key pinch points on the A1307 between Haverhill and Cambridge.
Rural Interchange facilities on main bus routes in corridor.
Cambridge/Haverhill/Saffron Walden study, a transport study looking at travel demand, network performance and future needs in the area to the southeast of Cambridge, including detailed consideration of trip-making on the A1301, A1307 and A505. Work would feed from this into consideration of High Quality Passenger Transport (HQPT) options for the Haverhill to Cambridge corridor in the medium to longer term.
Medium to longer term:
HQPT Bus priority option:
High quality bus priority Haverhill to edge of Cambridge. Options include:
A1307 comprehensive bus priority, Cambridge to Haverhill.
Twin-track busway parallel to A1307.
Single track tidal Busway parallel to A1307.
Twin-track busway, Haverhill to Shelford/Addenbrookes on the alignment of the old Haverhill to Cambridge railway.
Hybrid A1307/railway alignment busway.
Park and Ride. Additional capacity in Linton area linked to HQPT corridor.
HQPT Rail option:
Re-open Haverhill to Cambridge railway line.
Earlier in the document the commitment is clear: "Between Cambridge and the surrounding market towns, it is proposed that High Quality Passenger Transport (HQPT) corridors will be enhanced, or where no HQPT option exists, delivered."
The options throughout are wide-ranging and ambitious. There is mention of new railway stations, and also of a dual carriageway city outer ring road which would link Trumpington, Addenbrooke's and Cherry Hinton, via a tunnel under the Gog Magog Hills if required.
The visionary approach is in stark contrast to the absence of planning for Haverhill to Cambridge transport links noted in the new Suffolk Transport Policy and in St Edmundsbury Borough Council's Vision 2031 document, although that does include a commitment to work with the Cambridgeshire authorities on improvements to the A1307.
Comment on this story
[board listing] [login] [register]
You must be logged in to post messages. (login now)