Bus travel from a Cambridgeshire town is in chaos, says the leader of Fenland District Council Chris Boden. He wants immediate action to resolve a crisis that has seen many passengers missing connections and being late for work after a perfect storm of road works in and around Whittlesey is delaying travel from Whittlesey into Peterborough.
Cllr Boden, who also lives in Whittlesey, wants an emergency peak hour timetable to be introduced until traffic restrictions are lifted on the King’s Dyke bridge.
The £32m bridge opened two years ago with the expectation it would overcome delays caused by a level crossing which it replaced.
Fresh problems hit flagship £32m A605 King’s Dyke crossing at Whittlesey
But the bridge – which connects Whittlesey to Peterborough over the main Peterborough to Ely rail line – has been reduced to single lane since June and controlled by traffic lights which frequently malfunction.
Other issues are affecting travel in and around Whittlesey.
Cllr Boden says repair works are still awaited near the Dog in a Doublet on the B1040 and “patience is wearing thin.
“We must get the Dog in a Doublet work done as a matter of urgency and the traffic situation in Whittlesey will go from serious to critical if the King’s Dyke crossing isn’t fully re-opened before flood alerts totally close North Bank and the B1040 again”.
Cambridgeshire County Council ‘temporarily closed’ the westbound carriageway of the King’s Dyke crossing in June after ‘some cracks appeared on the edge of the road’.
Months later the one way system on the bridge – known as the Ralph Butcher Causeway – remains and that, according to Cllr Boden, is creating a nightmare for bus travellers.
He has written to Stagecoach and to Dr Nik Johnson, the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, advising them “at the very least that an emergency timetable needs to be put in place until the traffic restrictions are lifted”.
Cllr Boden has appealed to residents to let him know their experiences of regular travel over the bridge And if the new bus times introduced recently for the 31/33 bus services are an issue that needs resolving.
In a public social media post, he questions the work that is being carried out on the bridge and says the amount of settling in “together with some small surface cracks is greater than anticipated for a bridge of this type, even allowing for the steep seventy degree banking there”.
Cllr Boden says: “I am told contractors still haven’t handed over the bridge to the county council and the council, quite correctly, won’t accept that the work is completed until all outstanding questions about the settling in and cracks have been satisfactorily explained and, if necessary, rectified.”
The council leader confirms that the contractor has taken samples for analysis and is using “all professional means to give the county council answers which satisfies the council’s challenge on this matter”.
He understands that, technically, both carriages are safe for traffic but says the county council “out of an abundance of caution” will not put vehicles and people at risk until the unknown reason for the extra settling-in is identified and, if necessary, rectified.
He is inviting anyone concerned about traffic restrictions affecting travel to contact him at cboden@fenland.gov.uk
