THE �300,000 bus lane along Old Houghton Road, Hartford, has been given the green light. Construction is expected to start in early autumn after further public consultation. The move was approved on Monday by the Huntingdonshire traffic management committ

THE �300,000 bus lane along Old Houghton Road, Hartford, has been given the green light. Construction is expected to start in early autumn after further public consultation.

The move was approved on Monday by the Huntingdonshire traffic management committee, which also agreed access should be restricted to scheduled buses and emergency service vehicles. That taxis will be unable to use the lane. There will be a footpath and cycleway alongside the bus lane.

The road was closed to through traffic when the A141 Huntingdon northern bypass opened in the 1980s.

Engineers believe the new 30mph lane will save buses more than three minutes of queuing in the morning peak.

When the proposed order for the bus lane was consulted on three years ago, it attracted five objections from the public, four of them questioning the need for any vehicles other than scheduled buses and emergency service vehicles to be allowed to use it.

There are also plans to move 200 metres closer to Hartford Marina the point at which pedestrians and cyclists cross the A1123.