Cambridge roadworks: Jesus Lane shut nights from 17 Aug

Cambridge is a small medieval city with a ring of park and ride sites around it, a bus gate in the middle of its busiest high street, and a county council that does most of its resurfacing between nine at night and five in the morning. If you drive here, three things decide your day: what is dug up, whether your route crosses Mill Road bridge, and where you are going to leave the car.

This page keeps the dated works at the top and the permanent picture underneath.

What is closed this month

Cambridgeshire County Council publishes its resurfacing programme by district, and almost all of the Cambridge city work is done overnight under a full closure with a signed diversion. These are the dates from the council’s own schedule.

Four more city roads are down for autumn 2026 without firm dates yet: Madingley Road between Northampton Street and Storeys Way, Newmarket Road between Wadloes Road and Meadowlands Road, Marlowe Road in full, and Barton Road from Newnham Road towards Grantchester Road. Hills Road is scheduled for summer 2027, in three sections between Long Road and St Paul’s Walk.

Two of these are worth planning around now. Trumpington Road in September closes one of the two main southern approaches for four weeks of nights, at the same time as the new academic year starts. East Road and Gonville Place in late autumn take out the eastern side of the inner ring in consecutive fortnights.

The council warns that dates move at short notice. Before a late journey, check the live picture on one.network, which carries the Street Manager data for utility works as well as council schemes and is what the council itself points at.

The Mill Road bus gate

If you take one thing from this page, take this. Mill Road bridge is a bus gate. Driving a non-exempt vehicle over it gets you a £70 penalty charge notice, reduced to £35 if you pay within 21 days and increased by 50% to £105 if you neither pay nor challenge within 28 days. Enforcement is by ANPR camera and began on 11 March 2025.

Exempt vehicles are buses, taxis, emergency services, vehicles in the disabled tax class, registered Blue Badge holders’ vehicles and anything on the council’s permitted vehicle list. Registration is not automatic: Blue Badge holders must register up to two vehicles through the council’s MiPermit portal, and disabled residents who are not Blue Badge holders, plus their carers and professional carers doing home visits in the Mill Road area, can apply separately. An exemption for Mill Road does not cover any other bus gate or bus lane in Cambridge.

The restriction is not under review in the short term. The council has said the Highways and Transport Committee will receive its report on the bus gate in spring 2027, two years after enforcement began.

Park and ride, and what it saves you

Cambridge has five park and ride sites on the approaches to the city: Madingley Road (route PR1, CB3 0EX), Newmarket Road (PR2, CB5 8AA), Trumpington (PR3, CB2 9FT), Babraham Road (PR4, CB22 3AB) and Milton (CB24 6DQ).

Parking is free for up to 18 hours. Beyond that it is £10 for 18 to 24 hours, £20 for 24 to 48 hours and £30 for 48 to 72 hours, paid through RingGo within the first hour of arrival. The bus fares are:

• Adult return £4.50, single £3
• Child return £1 when travelling with a fare-paying adult, and up to four under-5s free with each paying adult
• Short hop return £3.80, between Babraham Road and Addenbrooke’s, and between Newmarket Road and the Abbey Stadium on match days
• Small group £9.50 for up to three people, large group £14 for up to five, both giving a day’s travel in the Cambridge town zone
• £14 a week on park and ride buses, £15 a week including all Stagecoach buses in Cambridge, or £57.60 a month

Concessionary pass holders with a Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority pass travel free all day; other English National Concessionary passes are valid after 09:30 on weekdays and all day at weekends.

There is one thing to know about Babraham Road. A Public Space Protection Order came into force there on 30 July 2026 after a joint consultation by the city and district councils, in which 88% of 160-plus respondents backed tougher measures against dangerous and disruptive driving at the site. Breaches are now finable and enforcement is by ANPR and CCTV without staff on site. Milton park and ride has had a similar order since last year.

City centre car parks

Cambridge City Council runs three multi-storey car parks. All are short-stay, all take cash, card, Apple Pay and Android Pay, and all give Blue Badge holders three hours free if you scan the badge when you pay.

Queen Anne Terrace is the cheapest for a long stay and the council says so on its own page. It also has 40 electric vehicle charging points, free motorcycle parking on the ground floor and a 2.1 metre height limit, against 1.98 metres at the other two. It is about a 15-minute walk from the centre, and it is the obvious choice for Parker’s Piece, the Grafton, Anglia Ruskin and Parkside pool.

Grand Arcade is the closest to the colleges and the river and is priced accordingly. Its lift to the lower levels is currently out of service, so if you need it rather than the stairs, park on the upper levels. Coaches are not allowed at any of the three; the council directs them to Madingley Road park and ride.

Evening and overnight parking, from 6pm until the next daytime tariff, is £1.80 an hour at the Grand Arcade and £1.30 at Grafton East.

Frequently asked questions

What roads are closed in Cambridge right now?

Overnight closures are running on Shelford Road from 3 August for three weeks and Jesus Lane from 17 August for two weeks, both between 9pm and 5am. Round Church Street and Trumpington Road follow on 1 September. The live picture, including utility works, is on one.network.

How much is the Mill Road bus gate fine?

£70, reduced to £35 if you pay within 21 days, and increased to £105 if you do not pay or challenge within 28 days. Enforcement is by ANPR camera and started on 11 March 2025.

Is Cambridge park and ride free?

Parking is free for up to 18 hours; you pay for the bus. An adult return is £4.50 and a child return is £1 with a fare-paying adult. Staying longer than 18 hours costs £10 up to 24 hours, £20 up to 48 and £30 up to 72.

Which Cambridge car park is cheapest?

Queen Anne Terrace on Gonville Place, at £24 for over six hours on a weekday and £26 at the weekend, against £33.50 and £36.50 at the Grand Arcade.

How many park and ride sites does Cambridge have?

Five: Madingley Road, Newmarket Road, Trumpington, Babraham Road and Milton.

Sources

• Cambridgeshire County Council, road improvements programme for the Cambridge city schedule, dates, durations and working hours.
• Cambridgeshire County Council, Mill Road bridge TRO and bus lane and bus gate enforcement for the £70 charge, the discount and surcharge, the 11 March 2025 start, the exemptions and the spring 2027 committee report.
• Cambridge Park and Ride pricing for parking and bus fares, and the site pages for locations and route numbers.
• Cambridge City Council, Grand Arcade, Grafton East and Queen Anne Terrace car park pages for tariffs, capacities and height limits.
• Cambridge City Council, crackdown on anti-social driving at Babraham Road Park and Ride, 30 July 2026 for the Public Space Protection Order.

Checked 9 August 2026. Roadworks dates move at short notice and tariffs change each year, so confirm against the council’s own pages before you set off. Trains instead of the car are covered on Cambridge to London trains; what is being built is on Cambridge planning.