Guided Busway Cambridgeshire

[Crankarm]

Hi, Can any one tell me whether it is currently passable as we have had a lot of rain and it may be flooded at the St Ives end and Fenstanton lakes up to Swavesey?
Thanks,
C.

 

[Glow worm]

Looks closed between St Ives and The lakes. See this blog and comments: http://travellingtheguidedbusway.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/busway-cycle-track-flooded.html#comment-form
Bloody useless!

 

[Crankarm]

Sure is useless. Only so much as a few rain drops and it floods. It's not fit for purpose. Cambridgeshire council and their contractor were incompetent not to raise the cycle path to the same level as the busway from St Ives to Swavesey meaning it would be highly unlikely that it would flood as the path would be much higher. But anything to do with government local or central is more often than not done incompetently.

 

[Crankarm]

It's well flooded between St Ives and Swavesey. It looks pretty deep and the amount of muck and debris is considerable. This happens every year and between 4-8 weeks maybe more it is impassable for cyclists and walkers. The incompetence of Cambridgeshire Council is breathtaking.

 

[PeteXXX]

Soggy photo from the guided bus, but cycle path still closed due to flooding.

Twixt Stives & Swavesey.

 

[mjr]

Soggy photo from the guided bus, but cycle path still closed due to flooding.

View attachment 403921

Twixt Stives & Swavesey.

Send that to your county councillor (or if you live outside Cambridgeshire the one for your work or that area) asking them to sort it aaaht?

 

[PeteXXX]

Send that to your county councillor (or if you live outside Cambridgeshire the one for your work or that area) asking them to sort it aaaht?

They know about it as they’ve closed the ‘route flooded’ gates!

 

[mjr]

They know about it as they’ve closed the ‘route flooded’ gates!

All that means is some council officer may know about it. The county councillors might not realise how annoying it is for people if no-one bothers to contact them and definitely won't get worried about it impacting on their future election prospects.

 

[Crankarm]

They were given central cycling funding to do just that... and somehow it never got done. The council has resisted all attempts to get answers about where the money was actually spent.

Probably gone to fund their pensions or into their back pockets. Judicial review?

 

[Dave 123]

Might it be an idea to contact something like the One show? That's the kind of feature they like.
I'm sure a bit of national TV exposure would do a bit of good.

 

[Drago]

And folk wonder why many cyclists prefer to ride on the road...

 

[PeteXXX]

And folk wonder why many cyclists prefer to ride on the road...

Along the guided route?!!

 

[mjr]

Along the guided route?!!

People do. The bus company, council and I think police all get narked, but I bet they're suspiciously silent about anyone doing it to get past the flood because it'd highlight the shoddy work.

 

[Pete Owens]

I'm not sure I understand the purpose of a guided busway. I thought the idea was that it could occupy less space as the buses could pass each other within a few cm - but if you have to build a service track next to it that defeats the object. It would be easier just to build a wide tarmac busway on the same real estate. Then you can simply use bog standard buses and service vehicles and cyclists could just use the same strip of tarmac rather than a purpose built submerged track.

 

[mjr]

It would be easier just to build a wide tarmac busway on the same real estate.

Which would flood unless there was extensive drainage works, probably including some metalwork in the roadways, which the buses would drive over occasionally and damage, resulting in hazards to cyclists. The wider the tarmac, the more water to shift, the more drainage and it's the fens, so engineers frequently underestimate the amount of water needing shifting, which is part of why we have so much trouble with flash flooding on modern estates around here. Plus there would be constant political pressure to open it as a relief road for cars.

With the guided busway, everything between the wheel tracks is basically a drain and the buses never (well almost never ) drive onto it. If you're going to run buses across that stretch, the busway isn't a bad concept.