Cambridgeshire roads damaged by extreme weather events, says council

Drivers say roads have got worse since the summer heatwave

Extreme weather events are damaging roads more quickly than expected - leaving some needing major reconstruction, a local authority said.

Some drivers in Cambridgeshire said cracks appeared "before your eyes", with fears there would be a fatality.

Cambridgeshire County Council said after spending millions of pounds repairing roads, "innovative solutions" were now needed.

The Department for Transport said it recognised the challenges for councils.

Clair-Marie Mackness, 51, lives in the Fens and has been monitoring the condition of the roads for around three years.

"When I first started to measure [the cracks] they were 1in to 2in (2.5cm to 5cm) in width," she said.

"This year, with the heat and the nature of the land that we have here, the biggest now is between 5in and 6in (12cm to 15cm), so that's a dramatic change in one year."

Clair-Marie Mackness said there had been a dramatic change in the road surfaces in the past year

Ms Mackness, who is a carer, said the biggest crack she had measured was 16in deep (40cm), and filmed one in Hundred Foot Bank into which she could put both her feet.

"This year, next year - who knows - there's going to be a fatality," she said.

Joyann Taylor, a farmer whose land borders Black Bank Road between Little Downham and Littleport, said the roads had "definitely got worse" since the summer.

Joyann Taylor said drivers had to navigate cracks in the road "like a chicane"

"The cracks in the road are just appearing so fast - it's before your eyes," she said.

She added drivers had to navigate some parts of the road "like a chicane" to avoid the worst dips and craters.

Some of the cracks and defects have been repaired by the council but it is thought more significant work is needed.

Lorna Dupré, who represents the Sutton division which covers part of the Fens and also chairs the county council's environment and green investment committee, said she knew of about 10 roads affected, including the A1123 Hill Row Causeway between Haddenham and Earith Bridge, and the B1381 Chain Causeway.

"This is no longer a repair situation," the Liberal Democrat councillor said. "It... needs far more substantial intervention and rebuilding but that will cost millions and millions of pounds per road that we don't have.

"That's a national issue, I think, that needs a national solution and national funding."

Cambridgeshire County Council said fen roads were deteriorating "increasingly" due to extreme weather

Cambridgeshire County Council, run by a Liberal Democrat, Labour and independent joint administration, is currently facing a projected £13m budget gap.

Alex Beckett, who chairs the highways and transport committee, said the authority was assessing locations across the county to get an idea of the scale of the problem, including Forty Foot, the B1040 and the B1050 Shelford Road.

"We have noticed soil-affected roads, including fen roads, are deteriorating increasingly more since the extreme weather events, such as the heatwave last summer and the floods of 2020.

"Many... could require major reconstruction which is likely to be a significant cost to the council and may only last up to five years," the Liberal Democrat councillor said.

"We are... looking at innovative solutions and preparing for what we can do in the meantime, whilst making sure the roads are safe for the public.

"As part of this work, we will be looking at both engineering and funding solutions, as well as working with neighbouring authorities and the Department for Transport."

Lorna Dupré, a councillor in the Fens, said it was "no longer a repair situation"

A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport said it recognised the summer's high temperatures were "challenging" for local highway authorities.

"We're working with the highway sector to provide advice on how to improve resilience, and this year allocated £23m to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority for highway maintenance," she said.