Transport Technical Paper [EXAM 114]

Contrary to the statement provided, there is no information relating access/transport in EXAM113 section 3.4 or EXAM 112 section 6.3 which addresses the impact of these developments around J13. As a local resident commuting through J13 area I find it impossible to understand how the impact on local journeys due to the increase in traffic from Marston Gate and Marston Valley has been considered in this CBC plan and am concerned that commuting from Flitwick/Ampthill area to Cranfield area will become impossible due to gridlock at the Bedford Road/Salford Road junction by the J13 north dumbbell roundabout.

Re. paragraph 1.2.6, I want to highlight that the M1 J13 model includes impact assessments and mitigation studies for only the strategic network (i.e. M1 J13, A421) and does not quantify the impact on the downstream junction of Bedford Road/Salford Road near to the J13 north dumbbell roundabout which EXAM 114C clearly states is a bottleneck requiring additional mitigation. Therefore, the model provides only a partial understanding of the junction operation.
Why is there no proposal for an additional mitigation study for the aforementioned bottleneck? This would seem to be critical to potential achievement of the planned developments around J13.

Additional practicable mitigation solutions for the Bedford Road/Salford Road junction (Junction C in EXAM 114A section 3) must be identified in order to deliver additional capacity sufficient for the Local Plan growth. Specific consideration should be given to local traffic from the A507 and Marston Valley crossing the strategic network and shift workers commuting to/from Marston Gate. This detail is appropriate as part of the strategic plan considering the complex nature of traffic flow around the J13 area, the known bottlenecks now confirmed by the J13 modelling and the fact that the boundaries of the two main development areas nearby (Marston Gate / Marston Valley) do not directly connect to the bottleneck junction so may not automatically be in scope of any planning proposal or subsequent negotiation between each developer and CBC through the normal planning process.

Paragraph 2.2.9 is misleading in concluding that mitigation solutions "....can deliver additional capacity sufficient to mitigate the impact of Local Plan growth." EXAM 114C Executive Summary clearly states that the Bedford Road/Salford Road junction is currently at capacity and additional mitigation is required. EXAM 114 does not explicitly recognise the need for additional mitigation (cf. para 2.2.8) and makes no commitment for any such action. This junction is one of two bottlenecks that have a negative impact on J13 operation and the proposed mitigation solutions (ref. sensitivity study in section 5 of EXAM 114C).