大象传媒

More of your messages:

People in east anglia need to get out more. I am born and bred here but moved away to London for several years before moving back. Believe me, the A14 is NOTHING to the problems on the M25. I travel on the A14 every day and don't really experience that much trouble. Yes, it is slow in the rush hour but I have experienced much worse elsewhere. Lets get some perspective here
Nicky, Somersham, Cambs

I agree with Pam Joyce. I live in Cambs but travel to Leicester or Lakeside to go shopping. Even with the extra petrol it is still far cheaper than parking and driving into Cambridge. sort the A14 or say goodbye to growing Cambridge
Ross, Cambs

The A47 between Wisbech and Peterborough is highly dangerous. It carries much traffic yet, is a two way road. Overtaking is almost impossible. There is also the bottleneck at Thorney to contend with. This road needs to be Dualled for it's entire length.
Eric C., Wisbech.

Heading West on the A14 approaching the Spittals interchange I have this desparate urge to carry on and forego the challenge of the Cambridge to Huntingdon section. If the A14 was created a few years ago to go from the M1/M6 all the way to Felixstowe why snarl everything up with joining the M11 traffic. Keep the two separate I say. Build another road and extend the A14 West then North to join up around the Brampton Hut Junction.
Bob, Suffolk

We need to upgrade the railway track between St Ives and Cambridge and link it to Huntingdon again. Not a guided busway. Projections of carrying 2000 people a day on guided busway are not going to make any difference to congestion problems. Particularly when you consider new development at Oakington planned. A14 also needs upgrading now (not by 2010) into 4 lanes either side, and another entrance out of Bar Hill is required now aswell. Ban lorries between 7am and 7pm daily.
Oliver, Cambridge

STOP! Nobody panic! All your problems are going to be solved!The highways agency has set up "feasability studies" for the A14. I've been using the A14 from the A1 to Bar Hill for 2 1/2 years. 2 years ago I looked at the Highways Agency website. All kinds of lovely information and ideas. 2 years later, nothing has been done, no ideas have been implemented and there is no clues as to when this will change. Is anyone aware of anything that is actually going to be done. I've seen some excellent ideas on this web page. What is going to be done? by whom? and by when? Anyone got any answers.
Richard, Stamford

The answer to the current situation on the A14 is simple. Keep speed down to less 30MPH. Leave a suitable gap and don't use breaks unecessarily causing shockwaves through the traffic. Above all drive with some sense.
A Barrett, Godmanchester

I submit that all container/port traffic should be made to move at night. Lorry parking overnight on Trading Estates should be banned. The major trunk routes throughout UK are virtually free from traffic between the hours of 11pm and 5am - plenty of time for Lorries to get to where they are going. This would relieve the pressure on A14 for commuters to get to work unfazed!
Jim Parker, Huntingdon

I know with the debate going on with the a14 that something needs to be done about it but there is also still problems with other roads i travel the A428 from caxton gibbet to st neots every day and almost have an accident every morning at the B1040 junction when idiots decide to pull out in front of you leaving you about 50 Ft to slow your car down from 60 to 20 so you dont run into the back of them we keep getting speed cameras up where the moterist can be penalised but still nothing is done about dangreous junctions i know there have been a lot of accedents at this junction and one day there is going to be yet another one which will involve fatalities all because some people use this road as a rat run to avoid the roundabout at caxton gibbet
J Gorman, Meldreth

What needs to be done is to provide alternatives. Re-open the Huntingdon-Cambridge railway line (at least east from Godmanchester) and get central government to implement some REAL transport policies to get all those lorries off the road and onto trains! Upgrading all the rail routes from the midlands to the eastern ports to take freight, or even lorries on a piggyback train would cost a fraction of a new six lane motorway. Look at what runs in Switzerland or Austria to see what I mean. It doesn't help that a certain Alconbury resident presided over the Major destruction of our national railway system, making any future re-instatements or upgrades overly expensive or downright impossible. End of rant...
Adam Warr, Peterborough

HGV vehicles seem to hog both lanes on the dual carriageway sections. Solution must be to widen the road or restrict lorries to inner lane.
Stan L, Swavesey, Cambridge

It should be possible for the thousands of motorists who are held up, diverted etc. due to breakdowns and 'accidents' to claim damages for loss of time, extra petrol and vehicle depreciation from the perpetrators. The police will know who the guilty parties are and could publish the information. I would bet then that the common denominator in most accidents, drivers of heavy goods vehicles, would take a bit more care in future!
Pete Gentle, Cambridge

On some autobahns they ban hgv's from the outside lane on two-way stretches of road, eg near Cologne. Why not on the A14?
P.S.Moult, Over, Cambs.

I have changed my working hours over the years in order to avoid the 6:30 - 10 a.m. and 3.30 to 6:30 p.m. nonsense on the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon. Even so, I am continually hindered by the 56 mph, speed-limited HGV's playing racing games with each other. My current record is sitting for seven miles behind one truck while he passed another (between the A1 and Thrapston). When he did eventually pull in, just myself and one other car managed to get past before the 'victim' pulled out to attempt to reclaim his race position. I assume that this would have continued between the two all the way to the M1/M6 without the slightest consideration to the hundreds of innocent travellers in their wake.
Angry A14er, Cambridge, United Kingdom

I was stationary on the A14 for 1 hr 45 mins this morning. Engine off! I had to divert down the A1 and arrived in work 2hrs 30 mins late. I travel along the A14 every 3 weeks or so when I visit my mum in Lincolnshire. This road has always been extremely busy and considering it links the M11 and the A1 it's hardly surprising. Two lanes are just not enough. It should be upgraded to three lanes and motorway status - that way no tractors or mopeds will be on there.
Sara, London

There is a case to be made that vehicles such as agricultural tractors and other slow movers that cannot maintain a resonable speed, should be banned from using all major routes during peak travel hours. There you are, a solution that won't cost millions to implement and will bring immediate benefit.
Mr Realist (again!), cambridgeshire

拢38 billion is raised through motoring related taxation per annum. Is it unreasonable to suggest that more than 1% of it should be returned to improve the lot of motorists? The first wally to mention hypothecation gets a smack! Most motorists are not inconsiderate pleasure seekers using their vehicles for fun. They use them as essential tools to get from A to B because there isn't a realistic alternative. The sooner the powers that be realises it the sooner things will improve.
Mr Realist, cambridgeshire

Instead of huge amounts of tax payers money on speed cameras why not get to the cause of accidents - bad driving. Rather than spending 拢40, 000 on a gatso why not spend the money improving peoples driving. The number of deaths on the countries roads increased by 30 last year despite the huge increase in these tax cameras. Oh and as a side point, has anyone ever seen a speed camera outside a school? Thought not. As an example if people didn't tailgate i.e left enough braking distance to the car in front we would never have multiple car crashes. Make people pass their driving test every few years and make advance driving courses compulsory. Money far better spent and the results will soon follow.
Pete Longman, Cambridge

I know from personal experience of the difficulties on the A14. Has anyone considered the effect the proposed new development at Alconbury will have on this overused, overcrowded road! To start with there is not the working population required living near Alconbury, most workers will have to travel to work, some up or down the A1, but I would suspect most will use the A14. Then of course there is the commercial traffic to and from the Airport. I think we have to consider at least 3 lanes, if not 4! Won't that be nice!!!
Richard Howitt, Upton, Huntingdon.

It's the lorries that cause all the problems! Get rid of them or only allow them to use the roads at night! Leave the normal use for the cars! Lorries, nothing but a nuisance, plus all those deep ruts they leave in the roads and don't forget last September when they messed up all the petrol supplies.
Issac Hunt, Soham

Can people stop breaking down between 4 and 5pm between Cambridge and Huntingdon. Don't they know the problems they cause!
Dave, Peterborough

Perhaps we need to look at variable speed limits on the A14 such as has been so successful on the M25. The volume of traffic, especially when Mum is taking the kids to school makes travel into Cambridge a nightmare. I have to leave Peterborough by 7.00am in order to reach into Cambridge at a reasonable time and without being held up too much. If I leave 15 minutes later when Mum gets on the road it can take nearly twice as long to reach work. Ban Mums carrying children to school from the outside lane and things would soon improve.
Roy, Peterborough

I currently travel from Godmanchester to Cambridge. This takes me an hour to travel 23 miles, of that hour at least 20 mins are spent completely stationary. The other 40 mins is always spent below 50mph dodging impatient cars, veering lorries etc. It only takes one accident/breakdown to cause a severe tailback for miles. The road is quiet frankly dangerous in my opinion. It is plainly obvious that it cannot cope with the load. I used to travel north up the A1 to Peterborough, the only place I ever got stuck was the mile or so past Spittles on the A14!!
Andy, Godmanchester

I thought I should write and join the debate about our great road network! I live north west of the city and drive over the new tram line route every day (if the proposed route is to be used in the future has any person thought of the implications about the amount of traffic that comes from Willingham, Earith, Sutton, Somersham etc that will have to queue, I presume at the barriers every time a tram passes? And, does this mean more traffic jams?)

I then join the A14. (As stated before by others, at times the only way to access the A14 unless 10 or 15 minutes are spent queuing is to use the road around the Oakington base and then come out at Oakington. It is then very easy to get on the A14.) I then proceed to travel along the M11, and as I work south east of the city get off at the A10, A1309 roundabout.

I try and turn right like many other people and with the new park and ride traffic leaving the M11 now turning off left easily, the roundabout is blocked for traffic turning towards right towards Harston. Whoever gave the authorisation to allow this is mad as now the M11 has traffic queuing on it as cars and lorries cannot turn right towards Harston, Foxton and Royston etc, resulting in cars sitting on the inside lane of the motorway and not moving! (How long before a lorry crashes into the back of a static car is anyone鈥檚 guess).

Why were a set of lights not erected on this roundabout like they are at the Histon or Milton roundabouts to move the traffic off of the M11, or from the A10 so vehicles can join the M11? So I eventually turn right and head towards Harston (even though it is getting so bad that most drivers turning towards Harston now use the left hand lane as this is moving, and then suddenly turn right, nearly causing more accidents!) and after a few more miles and right and left turns end up at my destination in Sawston.

I do not drive into the city at all and only use the major roads and this takes me a mere 50 minutes to cover the 20 miles! So for all you people looking into working near the city, it does not only affect workers on the inside any more, should we all be grateful and proud of the road network and service that the council gives us? I think not!
An A14 and M11 driver, Cambridge

One simple change at Bar Hill would help - how about moving the sign back that shows a third lane will be added? Currently the sign is practically under the Bar Hill overpass where noone can see it soon enough. Numerous times slow moving lorries and cars swirve into the right lane unnecessarily because they think there is merging traffic. Also it would help if the majority of drivers would attempt to accelerate a little more aggressively when merging!!!
Vicky, Cambridge

Restrict HGV vehicle movements during peak rush hour travel times on a National scale. The number of HGV on our roads has increased and more often than not the drivers of these vehilces will insist on the slow overtake manouevre. The end result all over the UK is two lanes of our main roads are blocked by HGV.
Philip Waldren, Royston

So yesterday, Monday 9th September, was likely to be a sign of things to come for the winter with the bad weather! Having one lorry have an accident at just past Huntingdon in the early hours of the afternoon and by rush hour there were 20 miles of crawling if not stationery queues! We need something to be done on this road immediately. All these new plans are all well and good but no doubt we'll be spending the next 10 years arguing over exactly what will be done, then another few years trying to finance it, then another few years actually building by which time the new plans probably won't even be up to holding the volume of traffic once it's been completed. At the very least reopening the rail link from St Ives to cambridge may at least give some people a feasible alternative to yet another winter of misery on this road!
Rebecca, Huntingdon

Schools open again - surprise, surprise, same old grief. Everyone knows what the problem really is with Cambridge. It's no accident that the jams appear as the schools open.
Keith, St.Neots

Travelling into Cambridge has been a breeze during the summer holidays. Why not open the schools and colleges earlier/later?
Tim, Cambridge

Oakington airfield road. Many people use it already. It's difficult for the police to stop people 'cos you can just say you are going for a walk when they pull you up. Obviously if the new settlement gets the go-ahead the road will be closed or altered into a dual carriageway or some such. It's a great road - so don't tell anyone!
a longstanton resident, Cambs

Mr Watson, Quite frankly the public transport from my village is wholly inadequate and the only viable options are car or bicycle. Since I dislike cycling 11 miles each way especially in appalling weather, I use my car. I do car share with friends and colleagues wherever possible but shift rotas do not always co-incide.
Stoo, Cambridge

In reponse to Richard Kings comment for Road Tax money to being spent on Roads, I ask him where should Beer Tax money be spent? On breweries? When will people realise that tax from all areas goes into a single Government pot and then spent from there.
John Hemsley, Huntingdon, Cambs.

As a motorcyclist I find the A14 a risky path to take to work due to careless motorists and sleepy lorry drivers. Often these race each other for a gain of a couple of mph while a queue screeches to a halt behind them. I would not recommend destroying more countryside by making the A14 three lanes wide. Instead, some of the suggestioins made here would be very helpful such as opening disused rail links and restricting HGVs to the inner lane. I have to say that getting off a slip road onto the A14 is always a heart-stopping moment as no-one ever gives way. This morning my trip to work (I work in Peterborough and go via the A605, another nightmare road) was made entertaining by being pulled out on by a truck, halting very sharply behind a queue of rubbernecking drivers while the police closed the westbound carriageway after a truck had slewed across the road, someone throwing rubbish out of their car windows and a! s! lick of oil on the A43 slip road. Nice, eh? I do have alternative routes such as the A47/A43 and the A427/A605 and if the A14 gets any worse, I'll be using them rather than it, in future. Thanks for the chance to rant!
Sam Gyseman, Kettering/Peterborough

It's quiet at the moment getting into Cambridge isn't it? It isn't the commuters who make the roads busy its the students and the parents taking their kids into schools from other parts of the county that are causing the majority of the problems. I think giving parents the choice of schools has made a bad situation even worse.
Keith, St.Neots

Cambridge is so anti-car that we no longer shop there. We go to Bury St Edmunds for everyday shopping and Norwich or London for special items. It is cheaper to park in London on Saturday than Cambridge and it isn't full of cyclists who care only for themselves and have no regard for motorists or pedestrians
Pam Joyce, Ely

Opening the road across the Oakington airfield to cars (not HGV's) would be a big step to relieve pressure locally from the A14, but I am sure not a popular option for the residents of Longstanton.
Helen

I would love to make more use of public transport. The problem is in Wicken we only have two buses a week. We need more assistance in the rural communities to reach other transport links such as Ely Station. While I am on that subject - you can forget travelling by train after 8.30am because the car park is full and I cannot get there by bus. At least in Wicken we are trying to change things - the Wicken Action Group (Paving the Way) is trying to improve transport links to our village. If anyone has any ideas on how we can achieve this i would love to hear from you. See for details of our campaign.
Anne Stringer, Wicken Cambs

There is a disused railway line running between Huntingdon and Cambridge parallel to the A14. OPEN IT UP AGAIN !!!!!!
Kev, Mildenhall

I am sick and tired of people like Mr.Watson laying down the law to people like myself who live in a rural area which has no proper transport network. I work long and un-social hours which rules out the park and ride sites. I don't commute to Cambridge for the fun of it! I have to work and as I need to run a car I accept being taxed to death by this government. I risk life and limb on the A14 every day and then I get to Cambridge where cyclists risk life and limb with my car (and My Insurance) MR. WATSON ,I AM SICK AND TIRED OF IT TOO!
MISS LEONARD, CAMBS

There are public transport links into Cambridge. I live in Cambridge and personally am SICK AND TIRED of commuters coming in and blocking the roads, taking up residential parking spaces and generally making driving in Cambridge a nightmare. The only people who should be allowed to drive in central Cambridge are people who live there. Those who commute in from the villages should be forced to use the park and ride system and other modes of public transport.
Mr Watson, Cambridge

Traffic seems to be dominated by convoys of HGVs. Surely goods traffic could be handled more efficiently by rail? Perhaps then the added income to rail companies might pay for a halfway decent rail system? Where do the billions of pounds we pay in road licenses go? Not to the roads, surely?
Richard King, Cambourne

In Germany, it is quite common on two lane dual carriageways to restrict heavy goods vehicles to the inside lane at peak times. I am sure I am not alone in following two lorries running neck and neck for mile after mile, thus restricting passenger cars and light commercials. Adding a restriction and signs would cost little and may have a big impact on traffic flow.
Peter Milloy, Buckden

Whenever there are roadworks, the contractors only work office hours. This stretches out the disruption for weeks longer than it should.
Mike Cusack, Ramsey

Last month I passed 2 tractors (one was overtaking a car!), 2 boats, and 2 houses (on trucks of course) on the A14 during rush hour. Are there not some guidelines about slow moving vehicles on the busiest of roads during such times?
Tam, Huntingdon