I support the plan for a bridge over the railway to link the Cowley Road area directly with the Fen Road area northeast of the level crossing. This would connect the Fen Road communities directly with the new facilites planned for the development area. However, I favour a road bridge rather than merely a cycle and pedestrian bridge. Such a bridge would allow the considerable volume of light industrial and commercial traffic from the Fen Road area to exit on a safe link to Milton Road. At present this traffic is funnelled over the level crossing then along the inappropriate residential stretch of Fen Road southwest of the crossing. From there it still has to use either Chesterton High Street or Green End Road before reaching a main road.
Coinciding with an increasing volume of this industrial traffic is the substantial increase in cycle and pedestrian traffic to and from Cambridge North Station. The mix of these vulnerable road users with vans and truck, most of which are exceeding the 20 mph speed limit, is dangerous. It is only a matter of time before this mix leads to even more serious accidents than those that have already happened.
At very least, any new cycle/pedestrian brifge over the railway should not be sited so as to interfere with a future alignment of a road bridge.