A14 westbound closure caused by queuing traffic, Highways says

A stretch of the A14 was delayed fully opening by nearly five hours due to early-morning queueing traffic, National Highways has said.

The westbound carriageway between junctions 51 (for Needham Market) and 52 (for Stowmarket) remained closed until 10.50am on Wednesday.

Overnight closures have been in place for this stretch of road since September 15, so that National Highways can carry out reconstruction and repair works to sections of the A14. The overnight closures will be effective until July 4 next year.

The stretch was expected to be open at 6am on Wednesday morning, but delays were caused.

A spokesman for National Highways explained that, while the closure was lifted by 5.30am, by this time traffic was queuing on the mainline A14 waiting for the road to reopen. This did not allow the removal of the taper lane.

The spokesman added that traffic officers had to attend to implement a rolling roadblock for the lane closure to be removed, causing delays.

Simon Arthur is the head of scheme delivery at National Highways.

He said: “Unfortunately, there was a delay in fully reopening the A14 on Wednesday morning due to queuing traffic which prevented the carriageways being fully reopened safely.

“We apologise for the inconvenience to motorists. We do urge lorry drivers against stopping and waiting in the live line for the reopening and to continue follow the official, signed diversions.”

Speaking at the time of the stretch of road reopening, National Highways said no significant delays had been reported, and thanked motorists for their patience.