Cambridge danger junction' to get £900,000 revamp but cycle campaigners unimpressed with plans

Cambridge cyclists could have a dedicated traffic light allowing them to move off first at one of the city's most difficult junctions as part of a £900,000 redesign.

The junction that crosses Hills Road, Gonville Place, Lensfield Road and Regent Street has been the site of a number of collisions, and this week was given the go-ahead by Cambridgeshire County Council to be changed to improve safety, pending funding.

On the Hills Road the central reservation will be removed to create a priority cycle lane, and the kerb will be reduced to make it easier for large vehicles to turn.

The left hand lanes on Hills Road and Regent Street will be removed.

There will be Trixi mirrors fixed to traffic lights to help lorry drivers see cyclists.

The Cambridge Cycling Campaign has said though that the plans don't go far enough,  and that priority cycle lanes are needed from every approach.

Cambridge Cycling Campaign chairman Martin Lucas-Smith told the Cambridge News outside the council meeting: “Stuffing evermore traffic through this accident-prone junction clearly remains the priority.

“We think this is totally inappropriate for a ‘cycling city’, and against its own policy to favour cycling and walking.

“The scheme is better than the current junction design, but it would be hard to make it otherwise.”

Cllr Martin Curtis, the council’s cycling tsar, told the meeting the changes would make the junction safer for all road users.

He said: “If we take this that step further in terms of what Cambridge Cycling Campaign is looking at, the impact on road traffic would be significant and my view is that if we did that we would start to get a situation where the junction is even more unsafe.”