A14 Haughley to Tothill Concrete Roads Reconstruction Scheme - Update 03.11.23

National Highways will  shortly be carrying out repairs on the eastbound and westbound lanes in the contraflow between junction 47a to junction 49.

Due to the location of the road defects we’ll need to move the westbound traffic back to lane 1 on the westbound carriageway to complete permanent repairs.

From 6am on Tuesday 7 November, there will be a single lane open on each carriageway until the repairs are carried out.

The traffic will be switched back to the eastbound contraflow system by 6am on Saturday 11 November and will remain in place for the duration of the scheme.

To carry out these repairs safely, they’ll need to close the A14 overnight between junctions 43 and 51 to through traffic from 8pm to 6am on each of the following nights:

• Westbound – Friday 3 November and Monday 6 November

• Eastbound – Tuesday 7 November, Wednesday 8 November and Thursday 9 November

• Westbound – Friday 10 November There will also be some flooding mitigation work taking place on the A14 at junction 51.

To reduce the impact on the local area, the work will be carried out in two phases as follows:

• Phase 1 – junction 51 westbound entry slip road closures - Monday 6 to Friday 10 November (5 nights) between 8pm and 6am.

• Phase 2 – junction 51 westbound entry slip road closures - Friday 27 November to Friday 15 December (15 nights) between 8pm and 6am.

A fully signed local diversion route will be in place and local traffic will still be able to access the A14 westbound at junction 47 and the A14 eastbound at junction 49.

A14 Haughley to Tothill Concrete Roads Reconstruction Scheme - Update

Whilst both lanes on the eastbound carriageway have been fully reconstructed, the running surface is currently a temporary one. Once the westbound reconstruction is completed, National Highways will return to the eastbound in summer 2024 to apply the finished surface layer.

They wll continue to use a contraflow to keep the A14 open during the reconstruction of the road. This has now been relocated to the eastbound carriageway. The carriageway is still reduced to one lane in both directions as we work, and the speed limit remains at 50mph to ensure the safety of our workers and other road users.

Traffic control

National Highways have worked with Suffolk County Council to consider further actions that can be introduced to prevent the rat running through local villages.

Although they've installed additional signs along various routes, it is clear that some road users are not paying attention to these.

They’re therefore intending to temporarily reduce the speed limit on a number of local roads as detailed on our project website at www.nationalhighways.co.uk

The temporary speed reductions are subject to temporary traffic regulation orders (TTRO’s), with the changes in place from 16 October 2023. These temporary speed limits will be enforceable once the new speed limit signs have been installed.

Preventing rat running

At their recent public information exhibitions, residents expressed a concern about motorists using smaller, local roads to ‘rat run’.

To deter road users from using local routes, National Highways are working closely with Suffolk Constabulary to ensure existing restrictions on local roads are observed. They’re also placing signs at either end of these routes to advise they should be used by local traffic only, and that there is ‘no access to A14’ for through traffic.