'Warren Hay' A141 junction to open on Friday

THE �400,000 traffic light-controlled junction and pedestrian crossing where Kings Ripton Road leads off the A141 Huntingdon northern bypass is set to open on Friday.

The junction was the site of the death in May 2007 of 16-year-old pedestrian Warren Hay, who was struck by a car as he crossed the main road on his way to the football field at Jubilee Park.

Since then, his mother Maxine, from Alconbury, has campaigned tirelessly for improvements to the junction through the Warren Hay Road Safety Action Group, which she set up in his memory.

The light-controlled crossing was a compromise proposed by The Hunts Post between the much more expensive footbridge originally sought by the campaigners and Cambridgeshire County Council's more modest �160,000 scheme to ban right turns at the junction.

The scheme was been funded largely by the county council, but with significant financial contributions from Huntingdonshire District Council, Huntingdon Town Council and the action group itself from fund-raising. Landowner Lord de Ramsey has paid for a footpath alongside Kings Ripton Road, from the junction to Jubilee Park.

The county council had not given a time for the opening, but details will be posted on this website as soon as they become available.

Councillor Mac McGuire, Cambridgeshire County Council deputy leader and cabinet member for highways and access, who has led the campaign within CCC for the new safety scheme, said today: "We hope to have the new crossing and junction open on Friday this week.

"This has been a tremendous effort from the whole community to bring about this vital safety scheme, and I would like to thank everyone who has campaigned for this and raised so much money.

"Our thoughts are with Maxine Hay and her family, who have been tireless in their efforts to secure this safety scheme."