Data measured over call for A14 speed limit trial

A National Highways boss says the agency will not cut a road's speed limit without evidence to suggest it is needed.

The A14 in Suffolk has seen a number of serious collisions in recent weeks leading to closures while a recent economic report found the road was "not fit for purpose" due to the "suffering" it caused local businesses.

The county's crime and commissioner, Tim Passmore, called for a speed limit trial after data showed there had been a significant closure caused by collisions every four days between 2021 and 2024.

Martin Fellows, National Highways' east region director, said the agency was monitoring the road and data.

"We understand the impact that any incident or work on the A14 has when we forced to either close lanes or close the road all together," he said.

"We work very hard to maintain the road open as much as possible but the safety of everybody travelling on the A14 is our primary function and primary purpose."

He added the agency worked hard to ensure the road kept moving at all times.

Mr Fellows stressed the agency made sure maintenance work was done overnight to limit disruption.

"Incidents do occur, we know this," he continued.

"What we do do is we work with the emergency services and everybody else to clear those incidents as quickly as possible.

"We look at the causes of those incidents and whether there's anything that can be done to alleviate the risks that cause these incidents."

Passmore's speed limit trial idea came after a Freedom of Information request by the BBC to National Highways.

It revealed in both 2021 and 2022 there were 81 incidents, while 2023 saw 84. Last year then saw a slight increase up to 89 incidents.

As well as this Suffolk Chamber of Commerce released its economic report into the A14.

More than 350 businesses were surveyed and 87% of these reported negative impacts from A14 disruptions in the past year.

"It does split views and therefore we look at the data," Mr Fellows said.

"We look at the casualty figures to assess whether or not making reductions to the speed is going to have that benefits that we think it will have.

"We're doing that in a number of places across the region at the moment... so we do take action where we think it's necessary and we'll continue to keep the A14 under review in the same way."

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