Motorist drove onto busway at Cambridge Railway Station

Another motorist has driven onto the busway, this time at Cambridge Station. Information about is incident is tacked onto a longer story about the pedestrian hit by a bus near Histon a few days ago.

See Cambridge News here.

Accident on busway at Histon

There has been an accident on the busway near St Audrey's Close, Histon. A man was struck by  a passing bus and is badly injured. This is the place where a footpath crosses the busway, and there are poor sight-lines  if approaching from the Histon side of the busway. There is a speed limit of 40mph for eastbound buses here.
See report in Cambridge News here.

More about this accident here.

Flooding - 21 December

The busway cycle track is again flooded between St Ives and Fen Drayton Reserve, so I'd advise people to divert via Fenstanton until further notice. The track is still OK between Fen Drayton Reserve and Swavesey.

Busway services over the festive season

If you want to know what bus services are running on the busway during the festive season click here.

Busway cycle track open again

Cyclists will be pleased to know that the water level has now gone down and it is again possible to cycle between St Ives and Swavesey without getting your wheels or feet wet.

Latest update on flooded cycle track

Yesterday (Sunday) there was still a 300-metre stretch of the cycle track under water near Swavesey. This was the last section to fill with water when there recent floods arrives, and it is the last to drain away. From the bus I coudln't see how deep it was.

There was a shorter section still partly under water, passable on horseback, and I'm sure by bike also.

Earith flooding

As users of the busway, and readers of this blog, will be aware, the recent flooding of the main road through Earith caused huge traffic queues in St Ives which affected the punctuality of busway services. This is a regular feature of life in this area unfortunately, and happens once or twice a year whenever the River Ouse is in flood.

Today's Hunts Post ( 5 December, page 7) prints several letters  urging the County Council to build a causeway or bridge at Earith that will ensure the road is never under water.

On page 9 of the Hunts Post (5 December) is an article outlining previous attempts to build a causeway at Earith. It seems they were rejected for reasons such as - the floods were only 2-5 days a year, or  a causeway would impede water flowing out into the Ouse washes.

Lights on busway cycle track

Thanks to George Alexander for alerting me to a news item on the Cambridgeshire County Council website here.

It's a proposal to spend £95,000 on providing solar powered lights for the busway cycle track - between Orchard Park and St Ives. Very handy, I'm sure. But how will the lights cope with being under water for 4 weeks a year?

The money is coming from  the Cambridgeshire Sustainable Transport Fund, which  is about 'Getting Cambridgeshire to Work'. The government has awarded £5m to be spent over the next 3 years.

If they are trying to get people to work, then, in  my opinion, it would be better spending the money on raising the level of the track so that it doesn't get flooded every time the River Ouse bursts its banks.

Very brief piece about this in the is weeks Hunts Post (5 December, page 5) where it is hailed as 'fantastic news' by Councillor Ian Bates.

More information on Cambridge News website here.