Cycle track flooding update

This photo, taken from the bus this morning, shows the busway cycle track is under water between Swavesey and Fen Drayton. From past experience, the water is likely to remain here for some time.

Saturday 11th January - still flooded.

Thirsday 16th January - now flooded between St Ives Park & Ride and Fen Drayton Lakes, as well as from Fen Drayton to Swavesey.

Busway cycle track flooded

The busway cycle track isflooded between St Ives Park & Ride and Fen Drayton. This is due to high water levels in the river Great Ouse.

Partial closure/diversion this weekend

Stagecoach report that the Busway track will be closed between St Ives and Swavesey this weekend - Saturday and Sunday, 27-28 August. Buses will use the authorised diversionary route between the St Ives Park and Ride and the Swavesey Buway stop (i.e. the A1096, A14, and the village road from the Trinity Foot through Swavesey - and reverse for services heading towards St Ives). Fen Drayton Lakes stop will not be served during this period.

I've been unable to find any announcement about this on the County Council's Busway site. And a technical glitch means that it seems to be the case that you can only find it on the Stagecoach website if you're using a mobile device (running Android? or perhaps it's only visible to Chrome users? or something...). I was at St Ives Station Road and FenDrayton stops yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) and there was nothing to warn of this imminent diversion. Not exactly great customer service!

Thanks to Simon Norton for spotting this.

Guided busway bus stop was 'darker than hell'

The husband of a woman killed while crossing the busway track at the Fen Drayton stop in November last year  has described the location as 'darker than hell'.

There is no lighting at the bus stop, possibly to minimise disruption to bird life at the adjacent nature reserve.

The question of lighting at the stop will be considered at a review hearing on 9 December. A full inquest is expected in early 2017.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/guided-busway-was-darker-than-hell-when-cambridgeshire-pensioner-was-hit-by-bus-inquest-hears/story-29558569-detail/story.html

Swavesey Half Marathon

The Swavesey Half Marathon will be using part of the busway cycle track near Fen Drayton on Sunday 2 March 2014.
Details of the event, including a map of the route, can be found here.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge/Swavesey-Half-Marathon-run-confirmed-for-second-year-20140115050018.htm

Damaged track between St Ives and Fen Drayton

As already noted in a comment on this blog, there is a 10mph speed restriction on the busway just east of the Ouse Viaduct. I asked a driver today and he told me that the track had been damaged by someone driving a trailer over that section. I'll take a closer look and hopefully get a photo.

Here's a photo taken by David Parrish, who writes in an email 'if buses can safely pass through gaps at 40mph, then 10mph for this chip seems rather cautious'. The damage is so close to the end of a beam, that I wonder if it's degradation of the concrete due to mechanical stress from passing buses, and perhaps exacerbated by the effects of freeze/thaw during the winter and early spring. Hugh from Cambridge suggests that the drivers story doesn't sound like the whole story.

Does anyone have any other opinions or ideas? Has anyone talked to other bus drivers?

Photo by David Parrish. 2013.

Cycle track photos - 27 Feb 2013

As already reported, the flood water has at last receded. But the cycle track at the place where the most persistent flood was, is a complete mess. Just look at these photos.

Looking towards Swavesey. This is the cycle track completely covered in debris.

A thin layer of mud everywhere.

Water level in ditch only an inch below track. Mud and twigs on track.

Some workmen were seen this afternoon clearing debris near Fen Drayton, so hopefully this lot will all be cleared away soon.

Flooding update - 11 February

The busway cycle track is still under water between Fen Drayton and Swavesey. There's a longish section of about 200 metres, plus a shorter stretch. I was on a bus so couldn't see how deep the water was.

Has anyone tried to cycle or wade through the flood in the last day or two?