A14 road
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| A14 road | |||
| Length (miles) | 127 | ||
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| Length (km) | 204 | ||
| Direction | East / West | ||
| Start | Catthorpe | ||
| Primary destinations1 |
Kettering Huntingdon Cambridge Newmarket Bury St Edmunds Ipswich |
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| End | Felixstowe | ||
| Roads joined |  M1 motorway M6 motorway M11 motorway A1 road A6 road A10 road A11 road A12 road A43 road A45 road A134 road A140 road A142 road A143 road A508 road A509 road A605 road |
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Notes
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The A14 is a major road in England, running 204 km (127 miles) from the Port of Felixstowe to the junction of the M1 and M6 motorways near Rugby. The road forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E24 and E30.
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[edit] Route
From the Port of Felixstowe the road heads West, bypassing Ipswich, Stowmarket, Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, Cambridge, St Ives, Huntingdon and Kettering. From the A12 west of Ipswich to the M1/M6 junction, the A14 is part of (but not signed as) the E-road E24. The remainder from Ipswich to Felixstowe is part of E30.
The entire road is a dual carriageway,and there is a six-lane stretch (three lanes each way) on the Newmarket bypass (between Junctions 36 and 38) where this road runs concurrent with the A11, carrying traffic from London to Norwich and a short stretch north of the Girton Interchange as far as Bar Hill is also six-lane.
The road is particularly busy around Cambridge and Kettering; it is heavily used by trucks carrying freight from the Port of Felixstowe (Britain's busiest container port) and the Midlands, North West and Ireland and a number of schemes are at the planning stage to increase capacity on the most congested sections.
The A14 runs concurrent with the A12 road from the Copdock Interchange over the Orwell Bridge to the Seven Hills Interchange, which forms the Ipswich Southern bypass.
There are four at-grade junctions along the road: with the B663 at Bythorn in Cambridgeshire (junction 15); at the Leighton Bromswold turn a few kilometres to the east (junction 17); at the Haughley Bends West of Stowmarket in Suffolk (junction 48); and at the Dockspur Roundabout at the edge of Felixstowe (junction 60). Major works are currently in progress to rationalise the road line and junction arrangement at the Haughley Bends.
The numbering of the A14 is inconsistent with the national road numbering scheme, as it begins in zone 5 and crosses through zone 6 on the way to zone 1 east of Huntingdon to Felixstowe.
[edit] History
East of the Girton Interchange with the M11 at Cambridge, the A14 used to be known as the A45, and much of the long-distance traffic further west had previously used the A45 route. The section between Cambridge and Kettering used to be the A604 apart from a short section near Kettering that used to be part of the A6. The remainder of the road between Kettering and Rugby was built at the time of the road's reclassification in 1991. [1] [2]
The road known as the A14 until the mid-90's is now the A1198 between Royston, Hertfordshire and Godmanchester but, confusingly, retains its A14 designation north of Godmanchester until it meets the A1 road near Alconbury; thus forming a 'spur' off the main A14.
Work to improve the at-grade junction at Rougham (junction 45), east of Bury St Edmunds, to a compact grade-separated junction was completed in 2006, along with the realignment of carriageway over a two-mile stretch to the east of Bury St Edmunds.
A congestion reduction scheme was introduced in Spring 2007 on the eastbound carriageway approaching Welford summit, just prior to the junction with the A5199 (Junction 1). The scheme bans vehicles over 7.5 tonnes from the outside lane between 6am and 6pm over the 2-mile steep climb to Welford summit. A similar scheme covers 2 miles of the westbound carriageway from Junction 2 including a particularly steep climb to Naseby summit. It intended that these schemes will reduce parallel running by lorries as they attempt to pass each other, which can hold up long queues of cars[3].
[edit] Upgrades underway
[edit] Haughley Bends
Work has started in June 2007 the new two-lane dual carriageway at Haughley Bends to rationalise access using a new grade-separated junction.[4]. The road is due to open in the summer of 2008.[4], and the balance of the work (including downgrading the previous alignment) will be finished by December 2008[5].
The junction at Haughley Bends had long been one of Suffolks most notorious accident blackspots. [6]
[edit] Proposed upgrades
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This section contains information about a planned or expected future road. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the road's construction or completion approaches and more information becomes available. |
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[edit] Ellington to Fen Ditton
In March 2005 the Highways Agency unveiled its plans to upgrade the A14 between Ellington and Fen Ditton[7]. Details of the preferred route for the Fen Drayton to Fen Ditton section were published in March 2007 which would broadly follow the current route[8] and for the Ellington to Fen Drayton section in October 2007 which will take a new route further south to the Brampton Interchange before tracking the A1 north to Ellington[8]. As well as the construction of a new road between Ellington and Fen Drayton, the new route would involve the demolition of the Huntingdon viaduct and construction of a new junction with Brampton Road for local Huntingdon traffic.
The contract for the scheme was awarded to Costain Skanska Joint Venture on 28 January 2008[8] who will now work on detailed plans and the Highways Agency will then publish draft order. Depending on the number of objections received there may need to be a public enquiry to examine the objections. The Secretary of State for Transport and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government will then made a decision about whether to approved the scheme.[8] The scheme is expected to open in stages between 2012 and 2014.
[edit] Widening to six lanes throughout Northamptonshire
The Highways Agency has "long term plans" to widen the road throughout Northamptonshire to "help cut the number of accidents and cope with the likely growth in traffic"[9].
[edit] A14-M1-M6 interchange
The Highways Agency is planning a major upgrade (due for construction 2009-2012[10]) to the overloaded A14-M1-M6 interchange at the A14's western end.[11] At this congested intersection two miles of stationary traffic is the norm on the westbound carriageway, as it is for traffic leaving the M6 to join A14. As of February 2008, the most recent information was that in March 2005 the contract for the planning, design, management and construction of the scheme through the Statutory Procedures from preparation of draft Orders to completion of construction was awarded to Skanska/Jacobs Babtie. Currently the Highways Agency is working with its Contractor, Skanska, to bring forward a robust, cost effective and affordable scheme that can be taken through the statutory processes of Public Inquiry.
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] Notable Incidents
On the 26 July 2006 the A14 was closed for 24 hours near Newmarket when a van carrying acetylene gas canisters caught fire and the rescue services were advised by British Oxygen that they could remain unstable and needed 24 hours to cool. Bomb disposal officers were called in and the Red Cross set up a centre in Newmarket for those who who were stranded[12].
[edit] Diagram
[edit] External links
- GO East CHUMMS page containing links to the report documents
- Public consultation on Huntingdon Bypass (March 2007)
[edit] References
- ^ A14 on UK Motorway Archive - History. Retrieved on 2008-05-11.
- ^ A14 on UK Motorway Archive - Statistics and options.. Retrieved on 2008-05-11.
- ^ Highways Agency. A14 Journey Time Trial.
- ^ a b Highways Agency. Stowmarket to Haughley New Street improvement works. Retrieved on 18 June, 2007.
- ^ Minister praises A14 safety bid. Evening Star (2007-09-21). Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
- ^ Haughley Bends transformation under way (2007-09-28). Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
- ^ A14 Ellington to Fen Ditton Consultation. BBC Cambridgeshire (2006-06-06). Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
- ^ a b c d Highways Agency. A14 Ellington to Fen Ditton.
- ^ Traffic may force widening of A14. BBC News (2004-11-24). Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
- ^ M1 Jct 19 Timetable. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
- ^ M1 J9 Improvements. Retrieved on 27 July, 2006.
- ^ Burning van causes A14 disruption. BBC News (2006-07-27). Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
- ^ Highways Agency (2007-03-16). "East of England roadworks update: Monday 19 March to Sunday 25 March 2007". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-03-16.
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