Business owner says road delays are 'horrendous'

Alfie Lawrence said a journey that should take 10 minutes can take up to an hour because of roadwork delays across Cambridge

An "unprecedented increase" in the need for city centre road improvements has contributed to major delays and complaints, a council has admitted.

About 20 roads across Cambridge have been affected by closures or traffic controls implemented by the county council, UK Power Networks or the Cadent gas network.

Cambridgeshire County Council said teams were "currently delaying some works until 2027, due to the pressures on the network".

Business owner Alfie Lawrence, who lives and works in Cambridge, said the issue was "getting worse and worse" and he now had to allow an hour for what used to be a 10-minute journey.

Nine roads have been affected by the Milton Road project which aims to make traffic more sustainable.

Other routes have been affected due to work from Cadent gas network and UK Power Networks including Queen's Edith's Way and Coldham's Lane.

These include the installation of high-voltage electricity cables to Addenbrooke's Hospital.

Roadworks along Milton Road in Cambridgeshire are causing delays for motorists

Mr Lawrence runs G and M's Quality Fruit and Veg stall in Cambridge and said the traffic around the city was "horrendous".

When the traffic was particularly bad in the mornings it "sets the tone for the day".

Posting on X - formerly Twitter - Cambridgeshire County Council travel and traffic news said works were scheduled for school holidays where possible.

"However, the nature of the ongoing works and their duration means they will already span the school holidays and cannot be contained wholly to them.

"It would simply take years to complete the works to restrict it just to school holidays.

"This is a picture seen across the country, not just in Cambridgeshire. We continue to endeavour to minimise the disruption as far as reasonably practicable."

In a statement to the BBC, UK Power Networks said: "[We are] carrying out essential work in Cambridge as part of a project to improve and upgrade the electricity supply for a large part of the city.

"While we have been permitted by the council to carry out this work, we appreciate they are busy areas and apologise for the inconvenience caused."