Multiple transport improvements on routes towards the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, which is home to the University’s School of Clinical Medicine and Addenbrooke’s Hospital, have been announced by Cambridge City and County Councils and MPs.

A newly-approved cycling and walking route, which has been christened the ‘Chisholm Trail’ after local cycling campaigner Jim Chisholm, will run from the Cambridge towards the campus via Coldham’s Common, where the first phase of construction will take place in January, if the scheme receives planning permission.

The chosen path is designed to run alongside some of the green spaces of the southern parts of the city, such as Coldham’s Common and Ditton Meadows, in order to increase the attraction of cycling over driving.

It will be funded by the Greater Cambridge City Deal, which has caused controversy recently over plans to introduce a busway to Adams Road near Robinson College.

Another welcome improvement for those cycling down to the Campus facilities will be the ‘Dutch-style’ roundabout which has been approved for the junction between Fendon Road and Queen Edith’s Way.

The Economy and Environment Committee of Cambridgeshire County Council has approved a new design for the roundabout, which will give priority to walkers and cyclists over cars. The design lays out dedicated cycling space and will create a parallel walking and cycling crossing, at which cars will have to give way. The format is common in the Netherlands, but can currently only be found in the UK at a single site in Bedford.

The existing roundabout has been slated for creating dangers for cyclists, who have complained of not being able to see approaching traffic when crossing. In a Council consultation, 39 per cent of respondents said that they felt unsafe cycling on the crossing.

The cycling campaign Camcycle, a proponent of the Dutch style of roundabout, has praised the decision, writing on its website that it is “a very exciting moment for Cambridge” which “represents a step-change in the standard of cycling infrastructure”.

It may soon also be easier to reach the Biomedical Campus from London, after the announcement this week that a new railway station is being proposed for the area.

The plans for a new station were confirmed after Cambridge MP and Shadow Minister for Transport Daniel Zeichner asked for an update on the government’s plans for better transport links between Cambridge and London.

Concerns have repeatedly been raised about the poor state of current transport links to the capital and their potential impact on the city’s growth. In October, the organisation Cambridge Ahead launched an initiative, ‘The Case for Cambridge’, at the Cambridge Union, addressing the city’s transport. Zeichner spoke at the event, alongside the Master of St Edmund’s College Matthew Bullock, and Dr Jonathan Nicholls of the University Registrary.

Cambridge Ahead identified “inadequate public transport coupled with chronic road congestion” as one of the major problems preventing Cambridge from attaining “its full potential”.

Paul Maynard, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, informed MPs on the 8th November that the government is “working closely with Cambridgeshire County Council” to deliver the station and that a “detailed study of the viability of the new station” is being undertaken by the Council.

Zeichner commended the plans, saying, “The [Case for Cambridge] report is clear that without such transport improvements, future relocations of major companies risk being made not to the UK but to elsewhere in the world. Both reports urge that this new station be progressed rapidly.”