Guided Bus

CAMBRIDGESHIRE County Council’s cabinet meeting next week (Dec 14) is to be asked to approve that the council fixes guided busway defects if they are still present when the route is handed over.

Contractors BAM Nuttall in April pledged all six defects on the northern section would be fixed. But the contractors now say the works are not defective.

The council says the expansion joint included in BAM Nuttall’s original design proposal, but not installed by the contractor, at the River Great Ouse viaduct will be fitted to stop water and de-icing salt leaking onto the steel below the bridge that would risk damage to the bridge structure.

They say adjustments to the levels of the car park surface and drainage at the St Ives Park and Ride are also needed.

Council plans are also underway to adjust flooded sections of the cycleway between Swavesey and St Ives, but the work on site will not be able to begin until the cycleway has dried out in the summer.

To warn people that parts of the path next to the guideway are flooded, and therefore closed, additional gates will be installed at the entrances to the defective sections with clear warning signs.

Roy Pegram, the council’s cabinet member for Growth, Infrastructure and Strategic Planning, said: “The council has always promised to deliver a busway that is high quality and that’s exactly what we plan to do.

“The plans we have to correct the necessary defects will make sure the final jobs can move ahead at speed once the route is handed over by BAM Nuttall.

“If, as we expect, we have to put the defects right BAM Nuttall will be charged for the costs and not taxpayers.

“Councillors and officers working on the project have said for some time that we would all be pleasantly surprised if the contractor finished construction and completed the documentation that acts as a guarantee for the work before Christmas but as expected they are unlikely to hit the date.”