South Cambs Roadworks: A428 Shut 5 Oct, Caxton A1198 12 Oct

The A428 westbound closes between Girton and Cambourne on the night of Monday 5 October, 8pm to 6am. It is a full carriageway closure for carriageway reconstruction, and it is the only A428 closure in the district this week.

The rest of the week is slip roads, and two of them are at Swavesey. The A14 westbound entry slip at junction 24 closes on the night of Tuesday 6 October for electrical works. The eastbound exit slip there closes on the night of Wednesday 7 October, 8pm to 5am, to put up signs.

The A14 bridge work at Milton is still paused. National Highways said on 24 September it expected to restart “from early October”, but its closure report up to Thursday 8 October books no A14 carriageway closure there. More on that below.

On the railway, Waterbeach loses its trains on three October weekends, starting on 10 and 11 October, as buses replace trains north of Cambridge.

Everything on this South Cambridgeshire roadworks page comes from National Highways’ closure report for 2 to 8 October, its own scheme pages, Cambridgeshire County Council’s statutory notices on the Public Notice Portal, Great Northern and Greater Anglia. Checked 4 October 2026.

What is shut, night by night

• A428 westbound, Girton to Cambourne. Full carriageway closure, 8pm to 6am, on the night of Monday 5 October, for carriageway reconstruction.
• A14 westbound, junction 34 entry slip at Fen Ditton. Closed 8pm to 6am on the nights of Monday 5 to Thursday 8 October, for electrical works between junctions 33 and 35.
• A14 westbound, junction 24 entry slip at Swavesey. Closed 8pm to 6am on the night of Tuesday 6 October, for electrical works between junctions 25 and 24.
• A14 eastbound, junction 24 exit slip at Swavesey. Closed 8pm to 5am on the night of Wednesday 7 October, to put up signs.
• M11 southbound, junction 13 entry slip at Madingley Road. Closed 9pm to 5am on the nights of Monday 5 to Thursday 8 October, for drainage work between junctions 10 and 14.

Sunday night, 4 October, is clear near the district. The A11 southbound closure between Balsham Road and Worsted Lodge was a single night and ended at 6am on Sunday.

Which nights, road by road

The A14 bridge work at Milton is paused

For three weeks we reported that National Highways had advertised six weeks of A14 westbound closures at the River Cam bridge, from 10 September, and then booked almost none of them. Only one night appeared in the closure report, on Monday 28 September.

The explanation is now on the River Cam bridge scheme page. An update dated 24 September says:

• National Highways has “paused our planned bridge work due to technical challenges with the bridge design”.
• It currently expects “to continue work from early October 2026”.
• The roadside technology upgrade “will continue as planned”. That is the junction 34 slip road closure you can see in this week’s report.

The scheme page has not been updated since. The closure report for 2 to 8 October carries no full A14 carriageway closure between Milton and Stow cum Quy, only the junction 34 slip road. So the bridge work has not restarted in the first week of October. The 40mph limit through the works stays in place either way.

When the closures return, the scheme page’s westbound diversion is long: leave the A14, take the A142 towards Ely, then the A10 southbound, and rejoin at junction 33. The same page also advertises eastbound closures between Milton and Fen Ditton from 9 to 26 November, 14 shifts, diverted via the A10 north, the A142 and back onto the A14 at junction 37. Those dates were set before the pause, so treat them as provisional.

The other A14 notice we have been watching, a run of weekend closures between Ellington and Swavesey, still has not appeared in the report, five weeks on. We are not carrying it as live.

Caxton Gibbet: A1198 closure from 12 October

The A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet scheme’s closures page, read on 4 October, lists one new job:

• A1198 southbound, Caxton Gibbet North roundabout to Caxton Gibbet services. Closed overnight, 8pm to 6am, from Monday 12 to Friday 16 October.
• It is for work on the new Caxton Gibbet bridge, street lighting and drainage.
• The signed diversion is the A1198, A603, M11 and A428.

For Caxton, Papworth Everard and the Gransdens, that diversion runs a long way round through Cambridge’s western edge. The A1 Black Cat north quadrant closure in Bedfordshire, about 20 miles west of Cambourne, is still listed to 30 April 2027.

Trains: Waterbeach and the line north of Cambridge

Great Northern and Greater Anglia both list closures north of Cambridge on three weekends in October. That is the line through Waterbeach, and on each of them the trains stop short of it.

When	Great Northern	Greater Anglia
Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October	Buses replace trains between Cambridge North and King’s Lynn	Buses replace trains between Thetford and Cambridge North
Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October	Buses replace trains between Cambridge and King’s Lynn	Buses replace trains between Ely and Cambridge
Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November	Buses replace trains between Cambridge North and King’s Lynn	Buses replace trains between Ely and Cambridge North

The Great Northern entries come from its planned engineering work listing, searched date by date on 4 October. The 17 and 18 October closure is part of a bigger job between Peterborough and Ely, which also puts CrossCountry and East Midlands Railway passengers on buses.

One late train is affected before then. On Sunday 4 October the 23:24 from King’s Cross to King’s Lynn terminates at Cambridge, and a replacement bus runs on to King’s Lynn.

Trains: the King’s Cross line

Great Northern’s planned engineering work listing, searched date by date on 4 October, affects Foxton, Shepreth and Meldreth on these dates:

When	What happens
About 01:20 to 03:00 on the night of Saturday 3 October	Buses replace trains between Potters Bar or Hertford North and Letchworth Garden City
Until about 08:20 on Sunday 4 October	Buses replace trains between Potters Bar and Letchworth Garden City, and until about 05:30 between King’s Cross and Potters Bar
About 23:45 Wednesday 7 to 05:10 Friday 9 October	Buses replace trains between Alexandra Palace and Stevenage via Welwyn Garden City. London to Cambridge trains divert non-stop via Hertford North with longer journey times
From about 01:15 on Sunday 11 October	Buses replace trains between Welwyn Garden City or Hertford North and Letchworth Garden City
Until about 08:15 on Sunday 11 October	Buses replace trains between Welwyn Garden City and Hitchin
About 01:20 to 08:25 on Sunday 18 October	Buses replace trains between Stevenage and Letchworth Garden City, Royston and Peterborough. Some late trains from London terminate at Stevenage

The Sunday 4 October morning one is the heaviest. The whole route from London to Letchworth is on buses until the middle of the morning. Sunday 18 October is the next to watch, because the buses run as far as Royston. If you are travelling into London on either Sunday morning, start later or allow a lot of extra time.

Trains: the Liverpool Street line

Greater Anglia’s service alterations calendar, read on 4 October, lists nothing for the line through the district this week. The late night alterations between Liverpool Street and Cambridge ended on Thursday 1 October.

The next one for Great Shelford and Whittlesford Parkway passengers is on Sunday 25 October. Buses replace trains between Cambridge North and Audley End all day. The operator’s notice tells London-bound passengers from Cambridge to take a train to Cambridge North and double back onto the buses there.

Our trains page has the normal journey times on both routes.

Village road closures running now and next

From the county council’s statutory notices on the Public Notice Portal, re-read on 4 October. These are anticipated dates and they move. The county has posted no new batch of South Cambridgeshire closures on the portal since 24 September, so nothing new has been added this week.

Where	Dates	Why
Six streets in Cottenham	To 31 October	Carriageway resurfacing
Granhams Road, Great Shelford, between Abberley Wood and the Cambridge boundary	5 October to 1 November	Mains laying
Haverhill Road, Shudy Camps, between Nosterfield End and Castle Camps	5 and 6 October, 9am to 5pm	Telecommunications
Fen Road, Bassingbourn, between number 15 and Shedbury Lane	7 October, 8.30am to 6.30pm	Fencing repairs
Church Street and The Lanes, Great Wilbraham	26 October to 9 November	Raised zebra crossing and drainage
Childerley Footpath 2	From 29 November, to 30 June 2028 at the latest	Solar farm installation

Sources: the batches of 26 August, 26 August, second notice, 23 September and 24 September.

A few details worth having:

• The Cottenham streets are Rooks Street, Margett Street, Corbett Street, Denmark Road, Beach Road and Rampton Road, under order 2026-21087.
• Granhams Road runs for four weeks. The signed diversion goes via the Cambridge end of Granhams Road, the A1307, A1134, A1309 and A1301.
• Shudy Camps: the notice, published on 23 September 2026, prints the dates as “5/10 & 6/10/25”. We read that as a slip for 2026, but check the signs.
• Great Wilbraham gets a two-week closure for a raised zebra crossing outside the primary school, near Angle End. The diversion runs through Little Wilbraham, Six Mile Bottom and the A11. The council is also taking comments on the crossing itself until 21 October, quoting reference PR1242.

Rows that have come off since 30 September because their dates have passed: Over Road at Swavesey and the Pages Close footway in Histon.

October closures already booked

These come from the county council’s batches of 16 September and 23 September. Each was advertised as a proposed order, so the dates are an intention, not a decision.

Where	Dates	Why	Order
A505 Royston Road and the Duxford Airfield to M11 junction 10 stretch, between the IWM Duxford car park and Heathfield Way	13 to 16 October	Crack sealing	2026-21450
Harston Road, Newton and Newton Road, Harston, between Town Street and Lawrance Lea	12 October to 22 November	Ducting	2026-21315
Villa Road, Impington, between South Road and Primrose Lane	22 October to 13 November	Electrical upgrade	2026-21286
Home Close, Histon, between numbers 9 and 48	15 to 30 October	Electrical upgrade	2026-21410
Grange Road, Duxford, between number 28 and Barkers Farm	19 to 24 October	Bridge joint renewals and resurfacing	2026-21413
Market Street, Swavesey, between High Street and Cow Fen Drove	19 to 23 October, 8am to 6pm	Telecommunications	2026-21352
School Lane, Barton, between the village hall and the B1046	26 to 30 October	Electrical connection	2026-21379
Meldreth Road, Shepreth, at the level crossing	00:45 on 25 October to 05:15 on 26 October	Essential maintenance	2026-21297
Fowlmere Road, Foxton, between Hillfield and Chardle Field	28 to 29 October	Telecoms pole replacement	2026-21388
New Road, Impington, between Park Drive and Macfarlane Close	29 to 30 October	Fire hydrant repairs	2026-21271
St Johns Street, Duxford, between Elms Close and Laceys Way	14 to 15 October, 9am to 5pm	Telecommunications	2026-21195
Green Street, Willingham, between Belsars Close and Conference Close	14 October, 8am to 6pm	Electrical connection	2026-21407
Long Lane, Gamlingay, between Longmeadow Farm and Gamlingay Footpath 1	22 October, 9.30am to 3.30pm	Cabling	2026-21279
Footpath from Chapmans Way to Coxs End, Over	22 October, 8am to 6pm	Telecommunications	2026-21417

Three are worth singling out.

• The A505 at Duxford is a main road, not a village lane. The signed diversion is the A505, A10, A1309 and A1301. Anyone driving from the Shelfords or Sawston towards Royston that week should expect it.
• Harston and Newton get the longest one: six weeks, from 12 October to 22 November. The diversion is Station Road, the A10 and the B1368.
• Meldreth Road at Shepreth closes at the level crossing for a single night, from quarter to one on Sunday 25 October until quarter past five on the Monday morning. The diversion runs through Meldreth via the A10.

New rules on the road, not just closures

Two permanent or experimental changes came into force in late September.

• The Green, Histon, is now a School Street. Under an experimental order in force since Monday 28 September, motor vehicles cannot enter The Green from 8.25am to 9am and 3pm to 3.40pm on school days in term time. It serves Histon and Impington Brook Primary School. Residents and anyone with business on The Green are exempt. Anyone can comment within six months, by email to school.streets@cambridgeshire.gov.uk quoting PR1246.
• Double yellow lines at Granhams Road, Great Shelford. An order in force since 24 September bans waiting at any time on both sides of the A1301 around its junction with Granhams Road, and on the first stretch of Granhams Road, Granhams Close and De Freville Road.

Restrictions that run around the clock

The closure report lists closures only, so these do not appear on it.

• A14 between junction 33 Milton and junction 35 Stow cum Quy. A 40mph limit for the duration of the River Cam bridge works, which National Highways lists as running to January 2027.
• A1 Black Cat north quadrant, still shut for bypass construction, listed in the report to 30 April 2027.
• A1307 Huntingdon to Fen Drayton, a 40mph limit in both directions, no end date.

We have taken off the 40mph and 50mph restriction we carried on the A11 between Stump Cross and the A505, which followed damage to a safety barrier in August. We have not been able to confirm it from a National Highways source since then, so we will not keep repeating it.

The A1307 limit, and why it is still there

The old A14 through Fenstanton was handed to Cambridgeshire County Council in February 2024. The council has since put a 40mph limit in both directions on the Huntingdon to Fen Drayton stretch. It is not a short-term measure. The council gives two reasons:

• Inspections found the vehicle restraint system, the crash barriers, did not meet the safety requirements for a fast dual carriageway and would not stop a vehicle crossing over or leaving the carriageway.
• After a fatal collision at the Hemingford bend, where a vehicle lost control on deep standing water, the coroner issued the council with a Prevention of Future Deaths notice. Drainage investigation and repairs followed.

The council says the road returns to the national speed limit “as soon as the road is considered safe after inspection and testing”, and adds that the fatality happened in July, so this is not only a winter problem. If you drive west from Swavesey, Fen Drayton or Boxworth, plan for 40mph.

Park and ride: parking is free, you pay for the bus

The simplest way from the villages into Cambridge remains park and ride, and the deal is better than many locals realise. At all five road sites, parking is free for up to 18 hours and you only pay to ride. The sites ring the city at Babraham Road, Madingley Road, Milton, Newmarket Road and Trumpington, so there is one near whichever side of the district you live on.

• Adult bus return: £4.50 (single £3), on Stagecoach buses into the centre.
• Child return: £1 with a fare-paying adult.
• Short hop return, Babraham Road to Addenbrooke’s: £3.80.
• Group day tickets in the Cambridge town zone: £10 for up to three people, £15 for up to five.
• Leave the car longer than 18 hours and parking costs £10 (to 24 hours), £20 (to 48) or £30 (to 72).

The guided busway: the north of the district’s fast lane

The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway runs buses on a dedicated concrete track from St Ives through Longstanton and Northstowe into Cambridge, away from A14 traffic. Stagecoach East runs route A (St Ives to Trumpington via the city centre, the rail station and Addenbrooke’s) and route B (Cambridge to Huntingdon). It has its own park and ride sites, with the same free-for-18-hours parking:

From Longstanton, routes A and B run up to every 10 minutes into Cambridge, which is why Northstowe was planned around the busway rather than the A14. From Trumpington, route A serves Addenbrooke’s, the rail station and the centre up to every 20 minutes.

No congestion charge, and none coming

Worth stating plainly, because the proposal made years of headlines. There is no congestion charge, road-user charge or Clean Air Zone in Cambridge. The Greater Cambridge Partnership decided not to proceed with the “Making Connections” Sustainable Travel Zone, which would have charged drivers from 2027/28. Driving in from the villages costs you nothing beyond parking.

What is coming next

• The Cambourne to Cambridge busway is approved. The Secretary of State for Transport made the Transport and Works Act order on 8 September 2026, nearly ten months after the inquiry closed. Our full report is here: what the decision letter actually says. The Greater Cambridge Partnership says it will now tender the work, with contractors appointed in the new year to complete the detailed design.
• A428 Black Cat to Caxton Gibbet opens in two phases. National Highways expects the majority of the scheme to open in spring 2027, including the new 10-mile dual carriageway, the A421 flyover at Black Cat and the upgraded Caxton Gibbet junction. The new A1 underpass at Black Cat follows in mid-summer 2027, delayed because more unrecorded underground services were found than expected. When the new road opens, the existing A428 is to be reclassified as the B1428.
• Waterbeach’s new station is on site. Work has started on a temporary haul road taking construction traffic straight off the A10 rather than through the village. Construction is set to start in autumn 2026, with the station planned to open by summer 2028. The Greater Cambridge Partnership is putting in £20 million of the £37 million cost. The existing station stays open until the new one runs, and its use is at a five-year high: 371,828 entries and exits in 2024-25.
• Waterbeach to Cambridge busway and travel hub: a 1,600-space hub west of the A10 plus a new busway, with a public inquiry expected in 2026.
• Cambridge South West travel hub: 2,150 spaces west of M11 junction 11, planning permission granted.

What it means for you

• Monday 5 October is the night to plan around. The A428 westbound shuts between Girton and Cambourne, 8pm to 6am. National Highways publishes no diversion in its report.
• Swavesey drivers: the A14 westbound entry slip at junction 24 shuts on Tuesday night, and the eastbound exit slip on Wednesday night.
• The A14 at Milton is open at night for now. The River Cam bridge work has not restarted, so check the report before late journeys.
• Caxton Gibbet: the A1198 southbound closes overnight from 12 to 16 October, with a long diversion via the A603 and the M11.
• If you use Waterbeach station, the weekends of 10 and 11 October, 17 and 18 October, and 31 October and 1 November are on buses north of Cambridge.
• On the King’s Cross line, Sunday 4 October is on buses until mid-morning, and on Sunday 18 October buses replace trains as far as Royston until about 08:25.
• In the villages, Granhams Road at Great Shelford shuts for four weeks from Monday 5 October, Cottenham’s six streets are down until 31 October, and October brings the A505 at Duxford and six weeks between Harston and Newton.
• Histon parents: The Green is closed to cars at school drop-off and pick-up, under an experimental order in force since 28 September.

Two more of our pages help with the practical side. Parking in South Cambs covers the village car parks and the park and ride sites in more detail, and planning news tracks the schemes behind several of these closures, including Northstowe and the Waterbeach station works.