FIX THE DANGEROUS A10

OUR CAMPAIGN

Fix the A10

OBJECTIVE

The A10 in Cambridgeshire is a notoriously dangerous road and had a safe systems approach been taken prior to 2021 it would have been safe for pedestrians. Between 2000 and 2021 21 people were killed on the stretch of the A10 between Waterbeach and Milton. In that time period nothing was done to make the road safer. 

Our campaign was simple, where vehicles are manoeuvring alongside footpaths or where children cross the road, either protection must be installed to ensure they are safe, or the speed limit reduced such that any incident on the carriageway would not encroach the pavement (known as ‘forgiving roadsides’). Specifically, we proposed: 

1. Reduce the speed limit from 50mph to 40mph between the A14 and Denny End Road 

2. Erect safety barriers to protect pedestrians from fast moving traffic at junctions 

3. Install traffic lights or a longer-term solution to make junctions safe once and for all 

OUR PLAN

In order to achieve this objective, it required a significant technical, cultural and political effort. Local authorities are notoriously slow at making changes in road design and the understanding of road system design is immature with an underlying culture of ‘the car is king’ still commonplace amongst many councillors. 

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We spent a considerable amount of time bringing together leaders from the council, local members of parliament, the county mayor and members of the emergency services to create a quorum of support in changing the approach for Cambridgeshire. This was very well received. 

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The regional authority had begun implementing VisionZero the year prior to Louis’ death but this was not well understood by the local authorities (charged with road design). We positioned this road as a proof point of this goal and this quickly gathered support in both those who governed the council and the road designers. 

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The next challenge was funding. Whilst some of the improvements we proposed had a minimal cost, already stretched local authority budgets have limited access to funding for road safety as the benefits are seen in wider society rather than to the council themselves. We approached Urban&Civic Plc, who are responsible for the development of a new town just north of Waterbeach. 

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They had agreed through s106 agreements attached to planning permission to make minor changes to the A10 by installing a traffic light crossing and repave the footpath to cope with increased use once their development was finished. They had anticipated spending around £150,000 on these improvements which were relatively minor and did not address any current safety issues with this stretch of road. 

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Through dialogue and collaboration, we developed a new road design which dropped the speed limit from 50mph to 40mph, widened the footpath between Waterbeach and Milton to be a proper dual use cycleway, installed a traffic signal crossing and reprofiled the junction with Car Dyke Road in order to make it safer and clearer. The total cost of these works is considerably in excess of £1.5m. 

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Urban&Civic and Cambridgeshire County Councill began design work in the summer of 2021 and reduced the speed limit in the same month. The usual design and approval process for a scheme like this is around 18 months to 2 years, but this was complete within 9 months following significant determination and collaboration with the design teams. Work began on the wider works in February 2022 and whilst not fully complete was materially complete in October 2022 with a new crossing installed and significantly wider footpath.

WHAT WE ACHIEVED

We would like to thank everyone who supported us during this campaign, in particular Cambridge County Council and Urban&Civic. Chairman of the Louis Thorold Foundation and father of Louis, Chris Thorold said: 

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“In 20 months, we’ve achieved more for road safety on the A10 than had been done on this road in the past 20 years. It’s heartening to see what collaboration between Cambridgeshire County Council, Urban&Civic and the Louis Thorold Foundation can achieve in such a short space of time…. However, this is just the beginning, and we won’t rest until all our roads in Cambridgeshire and across the UK are safe for our children.” 

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Since these works were carried out there has not been a single collision in which someone has been killed or seriously injured and none involving a vulnerable road user. Evidence has shown that the speed limit reduction which is not enforced by camera is widely being complied with and children who use this road to get to school feel much safer as a result.