Oxford to Cambridge is further than it looks

There is no good road between Oxford and Cambridge and there never has been. The transport network of southern England radiates from London, which means two places at the same distance from the capital and ninety degrees apart are connected only by whatever local roads happen to run between them. That has been recognised as a problem for about a century and the recognition has not produced a road.

North on the A34 and across the A421 through Bedford is the most direct in feel and the least consistent in practice. Round via the M40, M25 and M11 is much further, entirely motorway, and frequently no slower. The middle option through Buckingham and Milton Keynes is the pleasant one.

Which is right depends on the hour. The orbital route is the safest choice in the morning and the worst in the evening peak, which is the exact opposite of what most people assume.

The land between the two cities used to be a gap and is steadily becoming a place in its own right. Milton Keynes, Bedford and a string of research and technology sites now sit along the route, which has changed the traffic on it from through traffic to local traffic and made the journey rather more useful than it was.

Milton Keynes, Bedford and the science and technology sites along the route have turned the gap into a working corridor rather than empty country. A good deal of the traffic on that road is now business traffic rather than through traffic.

That has made the journey busier and, oddly, more useful, since a car crossing between the two cities can pick up two or three stops along the way without any real detour.