Residents in Histon and Impington have been suffering as a consequence of the excessive noise emanating from works being carried out on the A14 by Highways England.
Lucy Frazer, the MP for South East Cambridgeshire, last week spoke to the A14 Project Director at Highways England and pressed for assurances that the concerns of residents in Histon and Impington were being listened to and acted upon. In particular, Lucy stressed the anxiety being caused by overnight noise and the potential impact this might have on the many young people starting important GCSE or A Level exams in the coming months.
Whilst Highways England has said that delaying the works would incur significant extra cost, it has agreed to additional noise-mitigation measures where appropriate. These measures include shifting work on the removal of the central reservation barrier to the daytime from 15th May, the installation of additional temporary movable noise barriers as soon as possible, limiting the duration of noisy activities to the start of overnight shifts (10pm to 12:30am), looking into alternative methods of compaction when back-filling in order to reduce vibration, and using white noise rather than beepers on reversing lorries and automated tail-gated lorries instead of traditional tail-gated lorries.
In the course of the conversation, it was also confirmed that noise reducing tarmac is to be used on all new road constructed. Lucy had raised concerns expressed by some residents over a rumoured change of plan that the full stretch between Histon and Impington would not be covered.
Lucy said “I am pleased that Highways England has responded to the concerns that my constituents in Histon and Impington and I have raised about noise levels emanating from the A14 works. I look forward to Highways England implementing the additional mitigation measures it has identified as soon as possible and I hope these will go some way to improving the situation. I will continue to ensure that the voices of residents are heard as the work progresses”.