The 12-mile Huntingdon Southern Bypass – part of the UK’s biggest road upgrade – will open to traffic on Monday 9 December.
The new bypass, which is part of the £1.5bn project to upgrade 21 miles of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon, runs to the south of Huntingdon between Ellington and Swavesey.
Last month it was announced that the bypass would open to traffic in December, a year ahead of schedule, but as a ‘best-in-class’ A road rather than a motorway as originally planned.
Highways England said it is setting out how the road layout will change, and what drivers can expect on the new road.
Project director David Bray said: ‘Opening is a huge achievement in the delivery of this major road upgrade and I’d like to thank road users, residents and stakeholders for their patience and support during construction.
‘Opening the new bypass will start to unlock many of the project’s benefits and, together with the upgraded section of the A1 between Alconbury and Buckden which opened earlier this year, means that the western section of the transformed A14 is essentially complete.’
Highways England said the new A14 was designed with safety as the number one priority and its design is ‘simple and intuitive’. Variable mandatory speed limits will help to manage traffic to reduce congestion and ensure safety.
It said that as with any major road, the main things to remember are ‘to keep left unless overtaking, not to drive under a Red X, stick within the speed limit and know what to do if you breakdown’.
Slow moving vehicles will be prohibited from the new bypass and will be directed to use alternative local access roads. Each junction has specific possible vehicle movements and it is not always possible to join or leave the new road in all directions, to ensure that A14 traffic uses the most appropriate junction for its destination, avoiding smaller roads through local communities.
The junction numbers on the A14 between Ellington and Bar Hill will change when the bypass opens, as there will be fewer junctions than on the old A14.
Work on the rest of the project, between Swavesey and Milton, continues and is on schedule to completed as planned by December 2020, Highways England said.
