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Mayor James Palmer welcomes bids to build key Peterborough junction

Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough James Palmer has welcomed news that the Combined Authority’s bids to dual the A10 between Cambridge and Ely and to build a new road junction to facilitate the new University of Peterborough, have been submitted to Government.

The Combined Authority, through the region’s Sub-national Transport body, England’s Economic Heartland, has applied to two pots of Government money.

The A10 dualling has been submitted to the Large Local Majors (LLM) roads fund, while the Peterborough junction scheme has been submitted to the Major Road Network (MRN) fund.

In addition, a separate bid to upgrade junctions along the A10, worth £37 million, was also submitted.

Dualling the A10 between Cambridge and Ely is a priority scheme as set out in the Combined Authority’s 2019/20 Business Plan. The Combined Authority has agreed to carry out a strategic outline business case into dualling, moving the scheme further forward that it has ever been before. That work will continue regardless of the outcome of the bid to Government.

The £264 million bid to the LLM fund includes a projected start date for the A10 dualling of 2024, and completion in 2026. The junction schemes would be delivered from 2022/23 to 2025/26.

The bid for the A1139 junction in Peterborough will support the development of the new University of Peterborough on the Embankment site by providing better road access. It will also tackle what is already a congested road, recognising the city’s significant anticipated future growth.

The preferred option for the University access scheme will provide direct access from the A1139 to Bishops Road, providing a shorter route into the site and relieving congestion at junction 5, on Boongate, at junction 39 and on St Johns Street. Economic assessment work indicates that the new junction option could achieve ‘very high’ value for money, with a high proportion of the benefits coming from reduced congestion.

The £24.3 million scheme would be projected to start in April 2023, completing a year later.

Mayor James Palmer said: “The Combined Authority is here to put Cambridgeshire and Peterborough in prime position to secure extra money from Government.

“There is a very strong case for the schemes we have put forward. In Peterborough, when fully developed, the new University will have capacity for up to 12,500 students and so new infrastructure is clearly needed. That, coupled with the economic and housing growth ambitions of the city, in which the A1139 will play a key part, means that the junction scheme to speed up journeys is much needed.

“We know that for the A10, dualling has been long on the local wish list, with journey times and congestion already causing frustrating delays and holding back our economy. With future predicted housing and business growth in the Cambridge to Ely corridor, the need for this upgrade couldn’t be clearer.

“My job now as Mayor is to ensure that the new ministers at the Department for Transport are quite clear as to the importance of these schemes to the people and economy of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. I will be lobbying hard ahead of an anticipated funding decision this autumn.”

£700m worth of road investment priorities in and around the Oxford to Cambridge Arc have been submitted by England’s Economic Heartland to facilitate growth in the region.

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