Three large scale projects to rebuild and repair over 3.5km of the most peat soil affected roads in the north of Cambridgeshire start next week (from 12 January).
Reconstruction of 1km of Forty Foot Bank, Ramsey which will cost over £550k starts on Monday, 12 January. A substantial resurfacing project on Coates Road, Coates covering just under a 1km of the road between The Fold and Minuet Gardens also starts on the 12 January at an estimated cost of £500k. A £1.1m scheme to reconstruct 1.8km of Long Drove, Holme begins the last week of January.
All three roads will be closed whilst the works take place with diversion routes in place. Works to Forty Foot Bank, Ramsey and Long Drove, Holme are anticipated to take up to six weeks whilst the Coates Road works will take around two weeks.
Reconstruction of peat soil affected roads involves digging down over 40cm, recycling the existing highway material by grinding it up and then relaying it between layers of enforcing grid which helps stabilise the road base before resurfacing the route.
Around 40% of Cambridgeshire including most of Fenland and large areas of both Huntingdonshire and East Cambridgeshire is made up of peatland which makes the area’s roads particularly difficult and expensive to maintain. Roads built on wet and unstable peat soil using standard highway construction methods deteriorate quickly with sinking and cracking meaning to more repairs are needed, more often.
Councillor Alex Beckett, chair of Cambridgeshire County Council's Highways and Transport Committee, said: “We allocated £56m in our last budget to continue the largest investment in Cambridgeshire’s roads for a decade and we’ve been working hard to rebuild, resurface and repair some of the most badly affected peat soil-based roads in the county.
“Peat soil shifts and moves around with seasonal changes – much more than other land – so we face more expensive highway works cost and road maintenance bills compared to other places. This affects people using our roads across the County as it means there’s less money overall to invest across the network and keep our roads up to standard. It’s why we wrote to government back in the autumn and called for a fairer funding model for highways – one that takes account of the unique challenges we encounter with peat soil in Cambridgeshire.”
Over the last year, 11km of peat soil affected roads were reconstructed or resurfaced at a cost of £5.5m. Two £1m reconstruction projects were completed in December 2025 with over 2.5km of Hundred Foot Bank, Little Downham rebuilt between the junction with Bates Drove and the Old Pumping Station as well as a 2.9km of Prickwillow Road rebuilt between Prickwillow and Isleham.
Following the completion of works on Prickwillow Road, contractors moved to the neighbouring Great Fen Drove for a further £1m scheme to reconstruct around 1.4km of the road from Border Farm to near Chapel Lane – these works will finish at the end of the month.
Back in spring 2025, a £1.25m project to reconstruct 1.8km of Chain Causeway from Sutton to Hundred Foot Road was completed and 2.3km of Benwick Road, from Wype Road to Whittlesey was resurfaced at a cost of over £1.2m.
In summer 2026 Cambridgeshire County Council will be running a £1.5m trial which aims to find the most effective way to repair roads impacted by underlying soil conditions. The trial includes innovative solutions which we have developed with input from University of Cambridge academics.
Further large-scale reconstruction or resurfacing works are due across other peat soil affected roads in 2026 including Sixteen Foot Bank, Chatteris; Floods Ferry Road, Doddington; Black Drove, Murrow; Harolds Bank, Gorefield and Wimblington Road, Manea in Fenland; Straight Furlong, Pymoor in East Cambridgeshire and Earith Road, Willingham in South Cambridgeshire.
