Cambridge Guided Busway

The Cambridge Guided Busway connects Cambridge with St Ives and Huntingdon and at 25 km, is the longest one of its type in the world. Specially adapted buses run on a combination of normal road and within pre-cast concrete troughs, aided by side-mounted guide-wheels. Construction started in 2007 and the Busway opened in 2011. Because the route passes through very rural areas, great care was taken to reduce the visual impact, resulting in the use of 6 different wildflower mixtures, chosen to reflect the different soil types and situations. CDTS Ltd were contracted to sow these mixes, some by conventional techniques but also, due to restricted access and the novel construction of the Busway, some by hydroseeding. This often involved using the guideways themselves, using specific hydroseeding equipment. A number of offsite landscape mitigation areas were also seeded, these had very specific ecological and environmental requirements, such as providing homes for rare butterflies. Two years on, all seed mixtures are now becoming well established.