Cambridge's Catholic Church Junction Is Tackling Safety Fears With Temporary Lighting

In a response to safety fears, there will be temporary lighting fitted at the notorious ‘Catholic Church crossroads’. The Cambridge junction underwent a £900,000 revamp in an attempt to reduce collisions at the start of this year; however, the improved lighting is yet to arrive.

The county council maintains that the lighting currently installed is adequate, but have decided to agree to the installation of temporary lights after the concerns where raised by Cllr Colin Rosenstiel, who represents the Market. Prior to the upgrade of the junction, it held the title for one of the worst accident records in Cambridge, and since then there have been 2 collisions which left cyclists severely injured – council said the lighting wasn’t the factor.

Cllr Rosenstiel said the old lighting has yet to be replaced having been took away. He said, “This is a project that has annoyed quite a lot of people because a lot of Government cycling money has been spent on it but the benefits for cyclists are limited. It is frustrating that the job is dragging on. Lighting is usually put up for important safety reasons and this is no different, so the lack of lighting is a worry.”

The junction has installed the first traffic lights in the UK which allow cyclist to move off first, although only on the Hill Roads approach.

A county council spokesman said: “The junction has undergone major changes to make it much safer for cyclists and pedestrians. The junction was reviewed and the lighting in the area judged as adequate until the new columns arrived. We have kept the local councillor updated on this and the fact there has been some delay due to the supplier of the lighting columns. After listening to local concerns we have agreed to put some temporary lighting in as an interim measure until new the permanent columns are in place. The permanent work is programmed to be completed before Christmas.”