Locals demand action on busy Cambridgeshire road that ‘gets worse every day’

People living along the road say they have been woken up by late night crashes

Residents on a busy Cambridgeshire road have demanded urgent action after being woken by late-night crashes. The A10 corridor links Cambridge with Ely but increasing traffic congestion and safety concerns have led to calls to improve junctions and even fully dual the single-carriage road.

Stretham roundabout is one of the areas that councillors have long argued needs improving and residents say traffic “doesn’t stop”.

Laura Jones said the road is “pretty rubbish” and prone to accidents, with many drivers hitting the traffic island in front of her house.

The 32-year-old said: “The amount of drivers that hit it late at night and are stranded has woken us up loads of times – it’s a great big thud when people hit it. We’ve helped multiple people, getting them drinks and things like that.

“The traffic is ridiculous, it doesn’t stop – ever. We’ve lived here for three years and it just seems to get worse every day. I didn’t realise how busy it was until we moved here – otherwise we never would have.”

Tom Coates said the traffic and noise has been the same since he first moved there 40 years ago, but called for the council to fix the potholes. The 52-year-old said: “It’s not just here, it’s everywhere in Cambridgeshire – the roads are s***.

“I went out on my bike the other day and there’s been a couple of times I’ve nearly come a cropper because of the potholes and if you have a car beside you, you can’t move.”

Jamie Setchell also said something needs to be done to improve the roads, with traffic backing up for miles when it gets busy.

The 38-year-old said: “Every morning from six onwards it’s just bumper to bumper from Waterbeach all the way to Ely, so it needs improving. The main problem is the speeding and the noise.”

A motion was passed by East Cambridgeshire District Council in May calling for the council to support full dualling of the A10.

Cllr Lucius Vellacott proposed the motion and said that there was “strong evidence” that this would “reduce congestion, improve safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, and support sustainable economic and housing growth”.

The Conservative councillor said: “The implementation of the project, and the preparation of a more detailed plan, will require a collaboration between Local Councils, Members of Parliament and the Combined Authority, in order to secure the necessary funding from the Government.

“This is why Cllr Denney and I have secured a meeting with the Mayor, Paul Bristow, later in August to discuss how best to make progress towards this objective in the coming years. The Council has also written to local MPs asking for their support. We look forward to hearing what the next steps in the life of this important infrastructure project will be.”

But opposition councillors argued that full dualling is too expensive to be implemented in the short-term and improvements to junctions, such as the Stretham roundabout, should be the council’s priority. Cllr Christine Whelan said these are needed “urgently” and proposed the motion be amended to focus on improvements more generally but this was defeated.

The Lib Dem councillor said: “Full dualling could be part of a long-term answer, but it is expensive, environmentally complex, and currently lacks a clear national funding route. If we make this a ‘dualling or nothing’ debate, we risk waiting another decade while congestion, safety concerns and unreliable journeys continue.”

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority said an outline business case is being worked on for the road.

They said: “The work undertaken to date has developed and assessed intervention options, from dualling of the corridor to more targeted junction improvements.

“This breadth of analysis ensures a clear understanding of the scale, impact and affordability of different delivery scenarios. The aim is to ensure that the work completed provides a robust and proportionate evidence base that can support future progression of the scheme.”