County council leader Steve Count warned that drivers around March face huge delays in coming months once work starts on traffic lights at the Gaul Road junction with the A141,
Cllr Count has been pressing hard for completion of the traffic lights – one of the conditions imposed on house builders Cannon Kirk for being allowed permission to build on Gaul Road.
He says some technical issues are the only thing now delaying the works but he is hopeful these will be resolved soon.
Cambridgeshire County Council had refused to discharge one of the planning conditions until detailed information had been presented to tackle drainage and for hydraulic calculations showing summer and winter storm durations.
Cllr Count confirmed that Cannon Kirk’s design consultant was also having difficulty with tying the new A141 carriageway alignment in with the existing.
“Recent proposals result in flat areas of carriageway that risk having standing water on the approach to the junction,” he said.
“This is the one remaining technical problem that according to engineers is proving to be quite complex to resolve.”
However he is hopeful meetings in recent days between the council, Middle Level, designer and the company will have been resolved outstanding issues.
“.This scheme will undoubtedly result in a lot of disruption building,” he said.
The start date is still anticipated to be another two months away.
“Minimising the disruption will require careful planning,” said Cllr Count. “The A141 is likely to require full time temporary traffic lights for large parts of the construction phase.
“We all need to be prepared for the disruption this will cause to the highway network around March.”
He added: “Gaul Road will also require several road closures which will primarily impact on residents along Gaul Road.
“Despite the wonders of Facebook there needs to be thorough public engagement, so the public are well informed of the planned works and any disruption that may occur.”
Cllr Count said: “I’ve been fighting to get this done for many years. I’m fed up just like all of the March residents. But I keep trying and I put every bit of pressure I possibly can on.”
Traffic lights were deemed essential to deal with the expected increase in traffic merging onto the town’s bypass once a total of 200 new homes by three different developers have been built.
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