Signs on (and off) the busway

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In the last week several of these notices have appeared along the length of the busway maintenance track / bridle path / cycleway:

Presumably  asking cyclists to show respect for pedestrians and vice versa.

But most of the signs are mounted high up. About the height of horse riders heads. Is it asking horse riders to show respect for pedestrians and cyclists? Seems unlikely.

A search finds this Twitter article https://twitter.com/gnomeicide/status/574853452414738432  where Richard Taylor says “Cllrs to spend public health cash putting “RESPECT” signs on Cambridge guided busway cycle/pedestrian path”.  Obviously relevant - but I have not found any Council minutes about this.

Anybody know any more?

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When the busway was built, it was stated that National Cycle Route 51 would be re-routed along the busway. Sure enough, signs soon appeared along the busway with the number 51 on them.

But for the next 3½ years the old signs remained on the route through Fenstanton, Fen Drayton, Swavesey, Longstanton, Oakington, Girton. A few weeks ago these were finally changed to local cycle route 24:

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A new sign has been put up at Swavesey bus-stop by the Swavesey Meridian Magazine, showing a map of the village, and some places of interest.

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I recently found this busy signpost 2/3 of the way through the "public footpath" connecting Trumpington to the busway through the allotments:

The top sign clearly says "Public Footpath". But the bottom one shows cyclists and pedestrians equally and points ahead to the busway (and cycle racks at the bus stop). Are cyclists allowed to ride on this one?

New Cycleways

Cambridgeshire County Council have published details on their website of new cycleways - planned very soon. Two likely to be of interest to readers of this blog are:

The A1096 St Ives: Foot and cycleway will run along the St Ives A1096 bypass from the Meadow Lane junction to St Ives Business park. This will connect to the busway via existing cycleway along Meadow Lane and the Park & Ride site. Construction is expected to start this month, and be completed by end of February!

In Swavesey, the Swavesey to Buckingway Business Park Cycleway will run from the south end of the village to Buckingway Business park, and extend over the existing A14 flyover to the roundabout at Cambridge Services. Construction is expected to start in February and be completed June 2014.

Both will have 2.5m wide track (where possible), separated from the road by a 1m grass verge.

Further afield, Other cycleways also planned are Wandlebury to Babrham Research Park and A505 to Granta Park.

The last 3 here are "being funded by Cambridgeshire County Council's successful bid this summer to the Department for Transport for £4.1m from the Cycle City Ambition Fund."

Northstowe New Town

Today's Hunts Post ( 31 October, page 21) says that building of the new town at Northstowe begins in 2013. 'Northstowe' will be on the old airfield and barracks adjacent to the guided busway between Oakington and Longstanton.

Concerns are expressed about the transport needs of creating the new town, and there is a 'call for more transport facilities to complement the guided busway'. But no specifics are mentioned except that improvements will be made to the A14/B1050 junction at Bar Hill. Those of us who are local to the Cambridge/Bar Hill/St Ives area know what a nightmare the A14 is, and the prosepect of extra traffic from Northstowe adding to the A14's congestion problems is not a pleasing one.

It seems that the next 12 months will be spent in drawing up plans for the development.

The Cambridge News gives more details. Planning permission has been granted for the 1500 houses. The golf course will be built over. There will be a school, shops, sports facility, and community centre. Good news for cyclists is that there will be a cycle way to Bar Hill.

Two local councillors express concerns about the development. Councillor Alex Riley (Longstanton) talks about the local road network is heading for total meltdown. Councillor David Reeves (Oakington)  predicted that traffic could make Northstowe a "laughing stock nationally and a disaster locally".