Fifty-two reports have now been made to Cambridgeshire County Council about queues caused by the new traffic lights at the Eddington Avenue junction on Madingley Road in Cambridge, the latest being from the 4th of October 2017. People are continuing to make reports even though they are aware the issue has been logged.

I have spent two mornings at the location observing the traffic. I think a key problem is a lack of synchronisation between the new traffic lights and the traffic lights at the park and ride.

I don’t think the officer who was observing the operation of the lights was standing in a place which enabled them to see the problem.

There are queues back on to the M11 which is dangerous.

There is also a difficult question of fairly balancing the traffic coming off the M11 with the traffic coming down Madingley Rise. You could relieve the M11 queuing problem by giving the traffic leaving the motorway more time on green at the traffic lights at the top of the slip road, however that would increase journey times for those coming down the hill from the A428.

Those with a cynical a suspicious view of the world have suggested it is in the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s interest for the traffic to be congested on Madingley Road as they want to justify building a new busway (or other transport corridor) over green fields from Cambourne to the University of Cambridge West Cambridge site.

Cheap and simple things I’d argue and vote for if I was a councillor:

• Get all the traffic lights in the area synchronised and responsive to demand.
• Add a bus lane on the existing bridge over the motorway, and beyond, making public transport a more attractive option for people commuting into Cambridge from Cambourne, and that direction.
• Upgrade existing bridleways and paths, and where needed establish new routes, giving an attractive off-road cycle route between Cambridge and Cambourne.

None of those would help councillors, the University of Cambridge, and the Local Enterprise Partnership spend the City Deal Investment, and spending the cash appears to be one of their primary aims.

Report Excerpts

3 lights on Madingley Road at Edington junction are totally out of sync. You currently have to queue up for one and then the next and the next.

Reported many times but I must stress the importance and danger. New traffic lights at the junction of Madingley Road and Eddington Avenye cause a massive morning build up of traffic up Madingley Rd out of town, and onto and along the M11.

I would like to complain, in the strongest possible terms about the traffic lights and subsequent disastrous traffic congestion on Madingley Road. The programming of the second set of lights at the Eddington junction has quite…

Light sequence is not working properly causing a large onset of traffic. Traffic is cueing[sic] all the way up Madingley road, major impact on the traffic flow from the A428 and the M11.

The new traffic lights for Eddington are causing increased volumes of traffic and queuing for anyone travelling from A428 down Madingley Road or from the M11 and people are queuing along the hard shoulder.

The new traffic lights are causing congestion on the A428 and backing onto the motorway. Cars breaking to go onto the slip road too late and fast traffic breaking suddenly.

One hour stuck in traffic from A428 turning, timing of traffic lights needs reviewing urgently as there are huge queues of traffic every morning.

Traffic lights not syncronised causing excessive delays. It took me 50 minutes to get down the road.

Traffic lights not sequencing correctly causing significant delays. Took 1 hour and 15 minutes to cover a 5 mile stretch. Being based at the Hauser Forum many of our staff are having significant issues.

Mis-sequenced lights at Junction 13/Madingley Road and Eddington/High Cross causing long delays with cars queuing along M11 hard shoulder causing potentially serious crashes. I’ve witnessed 3 near misses in as many days

Traffic lights at Eddington causing major delays on the M11 Junction 13. Now takes an extra 20 mins to get to work. Do not feel safe queuing on the hard shoulder of the M11 while lorries zoom past.

A number of the reports complain about a lack of time with the filter arrow on allowing a right turn into the University of Cambridge West Cambridge site.

A number of the reports have been “closed”, one with the reason “with signals contractor”.