Cambridge’s roads have been thrown into chaos by a succession of anti-car, European-style traffic schemes that cause havoc and threaten to kill off businesses in the city, residents and traders claim.
A ‘signalised’ roundabout with 31 sets of traffic lights is the latest in a range of Dutch, Danish and ‘dangerous’ devices that are spreading across the growing metropolis via an injection of £32million.
Another junction, known as ‘Cyclops’, has four zebra crossings, four pedestrian islands and eight sets of traffic lights for cyclists and pedestrians. But it is so confusing that council officials had to release a YouTube video tutorial to explain how to use it.
These two Dutch-inspired crossroads, plus another 14 bicycle-priority junctions named after Copenhagen, have been condemned by road users and businesses alike.
Other crack-pot schemes include ‘pop-up’ cycle lanes that block emergency service vehicles, ‘floating’ bus stops that force passengers into the path of fast-moving cyclists and a plan for a city congestion charge that was abandoned in the face of furious opposition.
This roundabout in Cambridge has 31 traffic lights (circled), with another five sets yet to be switched on
There are also 14 Copenhagen junctions (pictured), where cars pulling out onto the main road must give way to cyclists and pedestrians
Cambridge has been thrown in into chaos by a number of traffic schemes, including this Dutch-style Cyclops junction – the second in the city
The new 31-traffic light roundabout features cycle lanes, but this cyclist was seen running a red
Independent traders claim these new traffic schemes threaten the survival of their businesses as customers find it more difficult to reach them.
Mackay’s of Cambridge, a hardware store is the latest small business forced to leave the centre of Cambridge.
Managing Director Neil Mackay explained: ‘We’ve been in the centre of Cambridge since 1912, but we’ve had to move out due to the various restrictions brought in by Cambridge County Council.
‘Quite simply council officials are killing independent businesses in the centre of Cambridge because they are making it more and more difficult for customers to get to our stores.
‘We are primarily a hardware store, selling tools and metals – stuff that is too awkward to get on a bus.
‘Council officials are trying to make Cambridge car free which is not compatible with businesses like mine.’
Albey Barham, 65, owner of Chesterton Carpets, added: ‘We’ve been up here for over 30 years. They’ve put the traffic lights down here and all they’ve done is cause chaos.
‘The council is silly and doesn’t understand what’s going on. They’re trying to push cars out as best they can.
‘They’re prioritising cyclists.
‘Unfortunately, my fitters cannot fit carpets on the back of a bike.
‘We cannot pedal five miles to fit a carpet.’
A red-tarmac cycle path in Milton Road, Cambridge, that is part of a £32million road improvement scheme is the latest incarnation of ‘traffic management’ to hit the city.
But a footpath that runs alongside has already had to be altered after streetlights and telegraph poles left pedestrians with just 3ft of space.
And the newly opened cycle-friendly ‘Cyclops’ roundabout, with 31 traffic lights at the end of the path, is causing chaos with long tailbacks. There are another five sets of lights which weren’t on when MailOnline visited.
Binman Tommy Harris, 23, explained: ‘When you’re driving it’s stop start. It’s supposed to be helping traffic, I don’t think it does do that.
‘I mean what’s the point? They should have just left it as a roundabout.
‘How many bikes use it anyway? It’s a pain in the neck.’
IT consultant Jacob Matthews, 51, added: ‘The traffic has become worse.
The Milton Road improvements have seen floating bus stops appear, but these have been slammed by blind charities
The second Cyclops junction on Milton Road comes after this one on Histon Road (pictured) was built
Mackay’s Managing Director Neil Mackay (pictured) said ‘council officials are killing independent businesses in the centre of Cambridge’
Binman Tommy Harris (pictured), 23, said that the new schemes have caused more traffic
‘It’s taking more time to drive in the area because the signals come and go, sometimes you wait there but the traffic is clear.’
Diane Barnes, 73, who is retired, claims she no longer drives in the city due to the traffic restrictions.
She said: ‘I’ve lived just round the corner for the last 47 years.
‘It used to be a lovely place. Since this crazy system started absolute chaos down here. I now walk most places.
‘I’d rather just go out to a village than drive in the city.’
Charity shop manager Emma Thompson claims takings are down 50 per cent since the new traffic scheme came in.
Emma, 47, said: ‘The whole of Cambridge has become an absolute nightmare to drive round to be honest.’
Cambridge prides itself as having the highest level of cycling in the country, with one in three residents using a bike to get to work.
Picttured is a car pulling out of a Copenhagen junction on Milton Road, one of several new schemes
Cambridge locals fumed to MailOnline about how cyclists were being prioritised in the city
Dozens of cars are seen approaching the mega roundabout with 31 traffic lights in Milton Road
But even the city’s bikers have baulked at new fixed and ‘pop-up’ cycle lanes, claiming they make riding ‘more dangerous’.
Referring to the new cycle lane in Milton Road, Daniel Bratton wrote on Facebook: ‘It’s made cycling much more dangerous on other roads because more drivers are using it to avoid the ridiculous queues caused by these traffic lights.’
Cambridge’s first Cyclops roundabout opened in the city in 2021 next to Addenbrookes’ Hospital.
As well as the usual car lanes, it also contains a protected cycle lane all the way around island which mirrors the path of pedestrians.
The layout has been widely criticised as confusing for drivers and cyclists, and the council was forced to release a video explaining how to use it after six serious crashes in three years.
The city’s second cyclops roundabout was completed just last week at one of the main routes into Cambridge, Milton Road.
A red-tarmac cycle path in Milton Road, Cambridge, that is part of a £32 million road improvement scheme is the latest incarnation of ‘traffic management’ to hit the city
It too has a cycle lane in addition to normal traffic, and has 36 different traffic lights for cars, pedestrians and cyclists.
Development began in 2022 as part of an improvement scheme to Milton Road, which ran over budget and cost £32 million.
But locals are furious with the new layout, claiming it causes long tailbacks and makes the area more dangerous for pedestrians.
Today e-scooter and electric bike riders and small motorcycles were seen being driven across pavements at the new cyclops roundabout.
One motorbike left the road and used the cycle lane to travel across the roundabout, dodging people out walking and cyclists as he did so.
Meanwhile numerous cyclists travelled the wrong way around the roundabout.
The city’s second cyclops roundabout (pictured) was completed just last week at one of the main routes into Cambridge, Milton Road
One motorbike left the road and used the cycle lane to travel across the roundabout, dodging people out walking and cyclists as he did so
Cambridge also became home to the UK’s first Dutch-style roundabout in 2021.
Similarly to a Cyclops junction, it has a protected cycle lane around the entire island, but prioritises cyclists so they can travel around the entire roundabout in one, rather than stopping at multiple traffic lights to allow cars to pass.
The project proved controversial as council bosses insisted on continuing, despite the cost spiralling to three times the project’s original budget to £2.3 million.
Pop-up cycle lanes provide some protection for cyclists by separating a narrow strip on the edge of the road from cars with bollards – but also reduce the width of lanes for cars and other vehicles.
Emergency services have reportedly been delayed reaching callouts on roads with these lanes, as there is no space for traffic to pull over and get out of the way.
Floating bus stops are located on the edge of Cambridge’s roads, between the kerb and cycle lane.
Diane Barnes, 73, who is retired, claims she no longer drives in the city due to the traffic restrictions
IT consultant Jacob Matthews, 51, told MailOnline that the traffic has become worse in the city
Cyclists are seen navigating across the roundabout with 31 traffic lights in Cambridge
When stepping on or off a bus, pedestrians must be cautious as they are walking right into the path of oncoming cyclists.
Today a young mother with her tiny baby and a pram was seen struggling to navigate past a stream of bikes as she alighted from a bus at a floating bus stop, in Milton Road.
The floating bus stops have also been blasted as ‘dangerous’ by blind and visually impaired groups.
Tahmina Begum, from local charity CamSight, told the BBC: ‘It may not be obvious to the cyclist if a person is visually impaired, so therefore they are not going to anticipate that this person is going to step into the [cycle lane] because they haven’t seen the cyclist.
‘We do support a ban for forthcoming [floating bus stops].
‘Royal National Institute of Blind People suggested adapting the ones that already exist and in doing so it would not just benefit the visually impaired but the general public.’
Ms Begum, who has a severe visual impairment, said public transport was the most viable option for blind people to get around, adding: ‘For those things to be then made a little bit inaccessible or potentially dangerous, it is enough to sometimes put people off… we have had people say they’ve not been out as much.’
Copenhagen junctions have now replaced traditional junctions in much of the city, and contain two sets of stop points for a car. There are 14 alone of Milton Road.
Designed to prioritise cyclists and pedestrians, drivers must stop to allow these road users to cross, and only when it is clear can they pull up second junction at the edge of the road they are joining.
Residents have described the junctions as ‘an accident waiting to happen’.
Cambridge Council was last year accused of being ‘anti-car’ after it proposed bringing in a congestion charge, similar to the tax levied in London to cars entering the centre of the city.
This was the UK’s first Dutch-style roundabout which opened in Cambridge in 2020
Several cars make their way around the new ‘signalised’ roundabout with dozens of traffic lights
Albey Barham, 65, owner of Chesterton Carpets, said it has caused ‘chaos’, while charity shop manager Emma Thompson (right) claims takings are down 50 per cent since the new traffic scheme came in
Officials backed down, and scrapped the scheme following widespread opposition.
However independent Councillor Daniel Lentell claimed the only solution to the ‘follies’ of these traffic schemes is a ‘light railway’.
He told MailOnline: ‘These follies and fripperies are an increasingly sad and pathetic attempt to paper over the glaring absence of serious mass transit solutions in Cambridgeshire.
‘We need an end to the gravy train and a light rail for our county.’
Charles Nisbet, chair of the Milton Road Residents Association, told MailOnline that the changes on the road have been mostly welcomed apart from the ‘wretched’ roundabout.
He said: ‘It’s 95 per cent as good as one would have hoped. But it has got one completely silly bit which is the roundabout where Elizabeth Way and Milton Road come together.
‘They insisted they had not only put a roundabout, but lights on it as well, so they could ‘control the traffic’ was the expression used.
‘I couldn’t see why, and the result is queues back on all arms of the road because it cars spend too long waiting.
‘So we have one bit which is attracting a lot of a problems and frankly what is needed is for them to have the courage to switch off the lights for a fortnight and see what happens to the traffic.
‘And then have the further courage to admit they were wrong, and just take them away. It’s only the wretched roundabout which is slowing traffic down.’
Last night the Greater Cambridge Partnership [GCP], a quango made up of local councils, businesses and academic institution, that is in charge the city’s infrastructure projects defended the schemes.
A GCP spokesman said: ‘Cambridge is a wonderful city – famous for its world-leading university and historic architecture – and now home to a burgeoning life science and hi-tech sector. This has led to the city being recognised by the government as a place of growth and somewhere people and businesses want to relocate to.
‘This success brings challenges. There’s only so much capacity on our roads and paths to meet the needs of our residents, communities and those who come to the city to work and study each day. This is why we’re all working in partnership to find solutions for our growing population.
‘From innovative junctions that make it safer for parents and children to cross the road, to new public transport routes for commuters to get between work and home, we are developing the plans needs and delivering the infrastructure essential to meet increasing travel needs – and to ensure everyone has a choice in how they travel.
‘We are committed to ensuring Cambridge avoids gridlock because people have no option other than the car.’
