In case this helps anyone.
tinyurl.com/jcwpk
The 6.3 km bypass officially opened on Thursday (16 March 2006) - eight months early!
Some works will continue, particularly improvements to the interchange at Junction 9 of the A1(M).
I use this road when transiting from M25 West, A1(M) then on the A505 to Cambridge.
A very impressive bit of road.- tunnel construction pics.
www.vinci.plc.uk/new-PLC-pages/focus%20projects/ba...l
Map
www.baldock.angle.uk.com/info/bypass.html
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6.3km? I thought we used miles in this country! I'm surprised the BBC didn't quote the price in Euros.
How long before the first speed camera gets erected because the traffic is too fast?
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At last! Baldock has waited about 50 years from when this was first proposed. As you say, Henry, this makes A1M / A505 / M11 the best route to Cambridge - and I would have thought Norfolk and north Suffolk too. It cuts out a bit of the M25 and also that bit of the M11 near Stansted that they can't resist digging up again and again.
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Too late for me unfortunately :-(
Up until last summer I spent 4 years commuting from Cambridge to Stevenage via Baldock. It will be interesting to see if the new road adds extra traffic to the rest of the A505.
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I spent years up and down between Cambridge and London via Baldock.
I'll bet that Baldock becomes a lovely place. It was always great on a Sunday or holiday with no commuting traffic. I wish I'd bought something there now.
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I remember riding with my dad through Baldock when it had a funny part-time one-way system with movable barriers and signs. And I remember the delays too. Another piece of motoring history lost for ever!!!
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On my weekly trip from Hampshire to Suffolk (M4 M25 A414(?)A405 A1M A505 A11 A14)for two years I was always glad to get to Baldock for one thing........... toilets!!!!
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Saw a report on about anglia saying that the housing market had gone ballistic in baldock.
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About 15 years ago I considered a house in Baldock as an investment in the event of a bypass. I didn't buy it which was almost certainly an error.
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this really is good news. I've spent what must add up to several years of my life sitting in traffic jams on that stretch of road, and I've only used it a few times. Was one of the worst hold ups in the country.
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I read often, only post occasionally
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Craig,
it happens. An uncle bought a house in Sydney (Cambridgeshire) years ago. A couple of years later the local bypass opened and the graph of local house prices went vertical.
JH
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Quite a 'current' topic for me. I've just bought a flat down the road (literally) in Royston - I used the new bypass this afternoon when picking up the keys to my new place! The bypass is a welcome break from the horrendous traffic jams (particularly westwards) - and open 8 months early!
All the local estate agents were constantly reminding me (I was also looking for properties in Baldock and Letchworth) about the benefits of the bypass to property prices.
I agree that the town was a good place to make a 'pit stop' - I wonder how much passing trade the Tesco store will lose, as it was on the through-route in Baldock.
Now I hope the Government (or however is responsible) build a similar (but shorter) bypass on the A120 (from the A10 to Bishop's Stortford) to avoid the wonder that is Little Haddam (regular users of this stretch of road will know how bad the queues can get at the traffic lights!).
Hertfordshire seems to have (generally) good North-South road links, but generally poor East-West road links. A few more would help to aleviate the traffic, particularly as large numbers of new homes seem to be on their way soon.
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At last!
Other things they should do:
Continue the A505 dual carriageway up the A10 to M11 jct 11.
Complete the A120 dual from the A10 at Puckeridge to Stortford. Also Braintree to Colchester.
Dual the A130 Dunmow to Chelmsford.
Sort out the A414 Harlow to Welwyn and get rid of the roundabouts.
Just as an aside, from Royston to Cambridge a much better route than the A10 is A1198 then A603 and join the M11 at Barton. Much less 30 mph restriction than the A10 route. (Just follow the brown signs to Wimpole Hall from the centre of Royston.)
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Other things they should do? Mappy my old mate you are so Anglia biased its not true.
HIndhead. It is without doubt the single most deserving spot for a bypass in the whole country. A3 - Motorway standard one side, Motorway standard the other, single carriageway over the top of a national park and SSI.
(dont think of buying investment property there for when the bypass comes, you cant afford it now let alone later)
A303 Stonehenge.
Madness Its a *world heritage site* and they still cant decide if its required.
If this had been france huge 15 mile tunnels or magnificent bridge works of art would have been created (paid for by the EEC)
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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A303 Stonehenge. Madness Its a *world heritage site* and they still cant decide if its required. If this had been france huge 15 mile tunnels or magnificent bridge works of art would have been created (paid for by the EEC) ------------------------------
But 1/2 billion pounds for a very short stretch of road!
Sorry I can think of plenty of ways of spending such a large amount of money on many better projects.
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I quite agree with Mapmaker.
To add another suggestion for the 'wonderful' A414 - avoid Hertford altogether - it was never designed for the amount of traffic (mainly through traffic) in the rush hour.
There are many lane reductions on that part of the route (particularly on the Eastbound), which cause hold-ups. If the road bypassed the town to the south, it could meet up with the stretch to Harlow without the need to use the A10.
It would also be worthwhile adding another East-West road from the SE part of Stevenage to link up directly with the A120 towards Bishop's Stortford/Stansted Airport (assuming that road was upgraded/Little Hadham avoided).
I'm surprised the Baldock bypass was done anyway, as much of the county seems to be (mostly) safe parliamentary seats for each main party (i.e. not worth one 'encouraging' people to vote for them by adding bypasses).
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"Complete the A120 dual from the A10 at Puckeridge to Stortford. Also Braintree to Colchester.
Dual the A130 Dunmow to Chelmsford."
They're in the early stages of planning for the dualling of the A120 to Colchester. There will be a new stretch of road from the A120 just outside Braintree to the A12 just south of Marks Tey, with no junctions in between. It's probably about 10 years away yet though.
As for the A130 Dunmow to Chelmsford, it's maybe worth continuing on the A120 to Braintree and taking the A131 from there as that's dual carriageway pretty much all the way to just outside Chelmsford where it meets the A130. Plus you get to see them building the new horse racing track.
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Soupytwist !
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"Now I hope the Government (or however is responsible) build a similar (but shorter) bypass on the A120 (from the A10 to Bishop's Stortford) to avoid the wonder that is Little Haddam (regular users of this stretch of road will know how bad the queues can get at the traffic lights!)."
I sat there on Friday afternoon having come down the M1 and across on the A507 in an attempt to avoid the chaos that was the A14 on my way home from the NEC to Braintree. If they did that I don't think I'd go up the M11 and across on the A14 to the A1 junction again!
I was followed by a silver Astra all the way from the M1 turnoff to Braintree - he must have been doing the same thing.
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Soupytwist !
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