A petition to speed up improvements to the A10 from Ely into Cambridge has been launched.

The petition says that the road “is in desperate need of an upgrade.

“Everyday tens of thousands of commuters and commercial vehicles lose hours of time in congestion on this single carriageway road in one of the fastest growing regions in Europe, both in terms of economy and population.

“The A10 has remained largely unchanged for more than 30 years, and it is unsustainable.”

The petition points that the James Palmer, the mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough together with the county council has commissioned feasibility study to develop a business case.

“But both lack funding to actually upgrade the road any time soon,” it says. “We are asking that the Department for Transport commit to funding the proposed upgrade at an early stage and that the whole process is accelerated so work can begin as soon as possible.”

Ely county councillor Anna Bailey wrote that “the A10 has only had very minor piecemeal changes over decades.

“As county councillor for Ely, I know that my residents are fed up and enough is enough!

“We cannot continue putting more and more traffic on the A10 (3,000 new homes in north Ely, 1,500 at Littleport and 8,500 at Waterbeach) without proper commitment to a major improvement scheme. We need funding for this road now”.

A comment on the petition says that it is “an awful road, has had more than it’s fair share of accidents, and deaths because of its single lanes.

“Stretham roundabout has been a terrible bottle neck, during rush hours, for years, particularly since Ely and the surrounding villages have expanded putting so much time on the journey to and from Cambridge causing frustration adding to the likelihood of further accidents.”

Last year Cllr Bailey put a motion to the county council at a meeting on May 10 calling for large scale improvements to the A10 north of Cambridge.

It was seconded by fellow Ely Councillor Mike Rouse and was passed by 57 votes for, with 4 abstentions.

It paved the way the economic and route options study.

The motion comes after lobbying of central Government by Lucy Frazer, MP for South East Cambridgeshire, who gained agreement from then Chancellor George Osborne that he would “look closely” at a bid for upgrading the route.

Ms Frazer said: “It is important that we ease congestion along the A10. I have already raised this with the chancellor.

“I am very pleased that the county council recognises the importance of this route and

Cllr Bailey’s motion called for the chief executive of the county council to commission a further high level economic and route options study for the A10 north of Cambridge for use in future bidding exercises.

It also called for Cambridgeshire County Council to team up with Norfolk County Council and the two Local Enterprise Partnerships to develop a case for whole route improvement from Cambridge to Kings Lynn.