Station access changes as Britain’s biggest roads project takes next step to completion

A new access to a town railway station will be the latest step towards completion in the closing stages of Britain’s biggest roads project.

Highways England’s largely-completed £1.5 billion upgrade of the A14 in Cambridgeshire has been dismantling the old 12,000-tonne A14 viaduct over the railway at Huntingdon, and the access to the station will change from Monday 30 November to accommodate these works.

Access to Huntingdon train station from Brampton Road will be closed from Monday 30 November, with drivers then using the A1307 – the old A14 – to access it.

Work to create the new access has seen almost a mile (1.2 kilometres) of kerbs installed – equivalent to the length of 12 football pitches – and almost 2,300 tonnes of asphalt laid – roughly the same weight as 382 elephants.

Further work has included installing 26 street lights and a new traffic light junction, while material from the old A14 has been recycled with 250m of it being used beneath the new road. The A1307 (old A14) has now fallen by eight metres in height compared to what is was when it went over the viaduct.

Work around the station will continue until next Spring, including continuing the removal of the viaduct, improving the station car park, and diverting utilities such as gas and water.

The new station access follows the opening of the 148-metre long Pathfinder Link into Huntingdon a fortnight ago, which now provides a way for people to get into Huntingdon from the A1307 (the old A14) to the east. Once the work to remove the railway viaduct is completed in 2022, the old A14 will also provide another route into the town from the west.