The Minister of Transport will inaugurate the A47 Guyhirn roundabout
Published:
11:59 p.m. May 12, 2022
Update:
00:16 May 13, 2022
Baroness Vere of Norbiton and MP Stephen Barclay will open the new £17million A47 roundabout in Guyhirn.
The upgrade work was completed on March 31 after 14 months of disruption to motorists between Peterborough, March and Wisbech.
As part of the ceremony, which is taking place today, the A47 bridge will be named the Tiddy Mun Bridge – a title proposed by 13-year-old Ava McCulloch, in reference to a Fenland legend.
Capacity at the Guyhirn roundabout has increased by around 18 per cent, National Highways said
– Credit: National Roads
Baroness Vere, Deputy Minister for Transport, said: ‘The opening of this vital new road scheme is a significant improvement to Cambridgeshire’s road network.
Stephen Barclay, MP for North East Cambridgeshire, said: “The completion of the A47 Guyhirn Junction is great news for motorists, both facilitating faster journey times and increasing road safety for drivers and pedestrians.
“More than 20,000 vehicles use this junction and the short-term pain of roadworks over the past year will be offset by the reduced congestion and faster journeys that these improvements bring.”
Baroness Vere of Norbiton and Stephen Barclay declared the junction officially open yesterday (Thursday May 12)
– Credit: National Roads
The completed junction of the A47 Guyhirn marks the start of six major upgrades and nearly half a billion pounds of investment along the 115-mile route between Peterborough and Great Yarmouth.
Planned improvements include a new dual carriageway between Wansford and Sutton in Cambridgeshire, and new free-flowing lanes at the A11 Thickthorn interchange near Norwich.
According to National Highways, there is now 18% more capacity at the A47 Guyhirn junction, with journey times expected to drop by four minutes.
The Tiddy Mun Bridge was named by Ava, who won a national highway competition.
The title refers to the legend of Tiddy Mun, a bog spirit said to control the waters and mists of the Fens in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.
First documented in the journal of the Folklore Society in 1891, the spirit is said to be about the size of a three-year-old child, but has the appearance of an old man in gray clothes.
The river crossing, formerly known as Nene Bridge, has an additional lane for traffic as it approaches the junction.
