Guided Bus Works Latest

On Tuesday I attended the latest Guided Bus Southern section liaison meeting. Work is continuing apace across the whole project, which is expected to open in Spring 2009.

The construction works are being planned by the County Council to minimise disruption where possible - the parapet work on the bridge to Addenbrokes is happening during a rail closure the weekend of 13th/14th September, planned so that work can be done on both new rail bridges (including the Addenbrokes Southern Access road) at the same time.




The barrier work required on Long Road will hopefully happen at night, to avoid inconveniencing motorists as much as possible.

The station area works include construction of an unguided section of roadway for buses, pedestrians and cyclists, now due to start in January 09. This will involve moving the short stay car parking to an area in the current season ticket car park, but otherwise the disruption should be minimal - certainly trivial compared to the disruption that would occur during Ashwells construction of CB1 if they are granted permission next month.

The main area of concern that remains is the Hills Road bridge works, and related traffic management. A date has now been set next week to meet with the police to try finding out why they have been so useless with regard to stopping dangerous actions from car drivers. Unfortunately the complex engineering work being carried out on the bridge has not been problem free, and works are currently 4 weeks behind schedule. This may delay the final period of single lane working, scheduled to last 2 weeks from end of Sept/early Oct - if the dates of this change as seems likely, people really do need to know in advance so alternative arrangements can be made. I am also going to request that the City Council's mobile CCTV is deployed to the area so the powers that be can monitor any problems being caused.

Finally, the meeting heard from one of the four artists commissioned by the Council to create some public art for the Guided Busway. He is planning some art that is influenced by interesting features near the guideway that people may not be aware of, and is keen to hear any suggestions from local people!