While it would be premature to condemn the set up completely until phase two is completed; it is the pedestrians who have fared far worse with two poorly conceived crossings.

The crossing opposite the Catholic Church crosses three lanes of traffic and has no central island so is quite wide and has a change sequence as follows: (a) Six seconds on green; (b) Six seconds of no colour; (c) Followed by a whopping one minute 30 seconds on red.

An olympic sprinter would do well to cross on green let alone the elderly or the disabled. The timing sequence on the crossing at the entrance of Waitrose is similar.

Unfortunately, this leads to pedestrian frustration with people crossing when and in places where they should not. This together with frustrated motorists going over lights on red – especially the set at the exit of the multi-storey car park which really is a recipe for accidents. A few minutes spent watching the junctions during working hours would readily confirm this.

This complex junction tries to be all things to all people and achieves the opposite – phase two may improve the situation for motorists (and that is debatable) but it certainly will not for the poor pedestrian.

Back to the drawing board?

Robert Milward
North Street
Burwell