Graham Completes 90-Metre Steel Active Travel Bridge Over the A10 at Waterbeach
A new 90-metre active travel bridge over the A10 in Cambridgeshire connects Waterbeach New Town to Cambridge Science Park, closing out a key gap in the settlement's infrastructure before the site reaches its full residential capacity.
Graham has concluded construction of a new active travel crossing over the A10 in Cambridgeshire, delivering a steel bridge that connects Waterbeach New Town with Cambridge Science Park and the city centre via an upgraded Mere Way for cyclists, pedestrians, wheelchair users, and horse riders. The project addresses a critical connectivity gap along one of the region’s busiest roads, ensuring that the new settlement’s infrastructure supports active travel modes rather than forcing reliance on the carriageway it spans. Infrastructure delivery firm Graham completed construction of a bridge spanning 90 metres and weighing 150 tonnes, with the steel structure fabricated off-site in modular sections before installation. The reliance on modular fabrication points to a logistics sequence designed to reduce works duration over the live highway, allowing heavy structural assemblies to be built away from traffic and lifted into place during controlled windows – a methodology that becomes essential when managing a 150-tonne span above an active dual carriageway without severing north-south freight or commuter routes for extended periods.
The bridge’s specifications are driven by the demands of Active Travel infrastructure on high-speed corridors, where weight distribution and aerodynamic profile matter as much as user capacity. A 90-metre span over the A10 requires precise engineering to manage deflection and vibration under mixed loads, particularly given that the deck must accommodate everything from slow-moving pedestrians and wheelchair users to horse riders carrying tack, which imposes different dynamic load requirements than standard cycling or walking traffic. The modular construction approach also limits the environmental footprint of the works phase, keeping fabrication waste and noise away from the sensitive ecology often associated with riverbeds and valley crossings in this part of Cambridgeshire. By delivering a structure that is both lightweight for its span relative to traditional concrete approaches and robust enough for equestrian use, Graham has produced a crossing that serves as a functional link between residential development and Cambridge’s research and innovation economy.
Waterbeach New Town will eventually contain up to 4,500 homes, alongside a village centre and local facilities, making the bridge a structural dependency rather than an optional extra in the settlement’s early years. The crossing was commissioned by Urban&Civic as part of the Waterbeach New Town development and formally opened by Charlotte Cane MP, marking the transition from construction to operational use just as demand for safe active travel routes grows with the site’s build-out. Upgraded Mere Way provides continuous access on both sides of the river valley, ensuring that once the first homes are occupied, residents can reach Cambridge Science Park and the city centre without needing to cross a high-speed motorway – a physical barrier that would otherwise lock early residents into car dependency for their daily mobility.
The timing of the bridge’s completion underscores a shifting standard in new town development, where active travel infrastructure must be delivered ahead of occupancy to prevent retroactive retrofitting under political pressure. If the A10 crossing had been delayed until post-occupation, the settlement would face the exact same pedestrian and cycle detours that characterize established communities attempting to add connectivity decades after the road network hardened around them. By ensuring the bridge exists before full residential density arrives, Urban&Civic and Graham are effectively pre-committing to an active travel network that cuts across the A10 boundary as a permanent feature, rather than leaving it as a potential future negotiation point once the 4,500 homes are built and displaced demand is already at peak.
The bridge also represents the culmination of a planning framework that prioritized multi-modal mobility from the outset, rather than treating active travel as a post-hoc compliance exercise. Active Travel schemes over strategic highways frequently face engineering constraints when they have to manage live traffic above while constructing a heavy steel deck below, making Graham’s completion of the structure a confirmation of the development brief holding firm against those pressures. The integration of equestrian pathways alongside wheelchair-accessible surfaces further distinguishes this bridge from standard cycle-over-road solutions in urban areas, reflecting the unique context of Waterbeach where access to horse riding routes remains a priority for future residents as well as Cambridge’s established equestrian network.