Fears are growing in Whittlesey that a lifeline £32m bridge opened only 2 years ago may be in for prolonged closure for repairs. The town welcomed the opening the King’s Dyke Level Crossing (now named the Ralph Butcher Causeway after the councillor who campaigned for it) in July 2022 but since June of this year traffic lights reduced the bridge to single lane.
It was meant to be temporary with Cambridgeshire County Council only revealing that “one lane has been temporarily closed using two-way traffic lights, as a precaution, after some cracks have appeared on the edge of the road.
“This is in place while our contractor, Jones Bros, carry out some tests which will involve digging into the road.”
But with passing months – and restrictions still in place – pressure is growing on the county council to be more candid about the repairs needed.
In the past week and with the B1040 temporarily closed because of flooding, many motorists have faced massive delays travelling into and out of Peterborough and a crash on Thursday forced temporary closure of the bridge with hundreds forced to use the only route back into Whittlesey via Pondersbridge.
Whittlesey councillor Chris Boden believes there is nothing to stop Cambridgeshire County Council from being more upfront about the information he believes they have about issues that need addressing to make the bridge 100 per cent.
Cllr Boden, a town, county and district councillor – and leader of Fenland District Council – issued a statement on Friday expressing his concerns about the bridge.
He coupled these with a plea to the county council to at least postpone a decision on a controversial planning application by Johnson Aggregates & Recycling Ltd to expand their operations at the former Saxon Brickworks.
Johnson wants to “improve the company’s operational flexibility and enable the recycling facility to accommodate IBA material from other Energy from Waste (EfW) plants as they become operational” but as Cllr Boden points out these will increase HGV movements along the A605.
He told the county council a decision was impossible whilst there is “real uncertainty as to when, if ever, restrictions will be lifted from the A605 King’s Dyke Bridge, near to the site.
“I would ask that this application not be presented for determination by the planning committee until the A605 at King’s Bridge has been fully opened to traffic on an unrestricted basis.”
Cllr Boden said: “If there is the danger that the A605 King’s Dyke Bridge will not be able to take Heavy Goods traffic (potentially for several years, if not permanently) that would be a material planning consideration which should result in this planning application being refused, as the local road network would be unable to cope with existing, let alone additional, heavy goods vehicle traffic.”
He added: “The additional traffic burden which would be generated by this application would be unbearable, given the traffic chaos Whittlesey already bears.
“Most importantly, as a condition of this application if it were to be approved, no traffic accessing or exiting the site should travel along the A605 between the site entrance/exit and Whittlesey Town.
“This is to minimise the heavy traffic problem in the main residential areas of Whittlesey and mirrors a ban that is already in place for the existing operation at the site.”
Cllr Boden says he has been provided with “sufficient, non-technical, detail” about the issues at King’s Dyke and these have helped explain the reasons for restrictions.
He feels these must be made public and promised that “if I don’t get permission I’ll try to get the information published anyway, by a back-door route.
“If I publish information without permission, I’ll simply be taken out of the information loop and will be restricted in being able to influence what is happening, and I won’t be able at all to keep people informed about what is going on”.
He added: “Suffice it to say you’ll probably have been able to read between the lines that the bridge problems are not likely to be resolved in just a matter of weeks. The sooner more information can be shared with local residents the better. “
Cllr Boden said he had also been assured that the traffic lights being used on the bridge would be improved to reflect peak time usage.
The county council remains characteristically vague about the bridge.
“We’re working with our contractor, Jones Bros, who are carrying out surveys and tests of the carriageway and the embankment to understand why the cracks in the road have appeared,” their spokesperson told me yesterday.
“We’re fully investigating and hope to have a report back in the next couple of weeks.
“Once we have identified the cause, we will then look at what repair work is needed, until then we wouldn’t want to speculate about causes, or the type of repair work needed.
“The temporary lane closure is in place for safety reasons, and we’d like to thank people for their patience. Further information will be provided as soon as we have the survey results back.”
Contrary to some reports, I am assured that whatever the issues are with King’s Dyke crossing, it has nothing to do with Star Pit.
This formed part of the early work by Jones Bros who revealed at the time that “in response to ground investigation work, and to introduce extra stability”, they had designed a new, highly engineered and improved solution to tackle the put install a piled wall.
The design involved piling 23 metres below ground level and installing a steel reinforcement cage filled with concrete.
This reinforced Star Pit side walls, allowing the road’s embankment to be completed.
“This method is more robust and increases the longevity of the asset,” they explained.
What has been established is that the contractors have yet to hand over, officially, the bridge to the county council.
That will only happen on the council is satisfied that all outstanding questions about the settling in and cracks have been satisfactorily explained and, if necessary, rectified.
