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Relief as section of A14 fully reopens

National Highways A14 between 47A at Haughley and junction 49 at Tot Hill.National Highways
Road reconstruction works on the A14 between Haughley and Tot Hill were in place for 16 months

Residents and businesses affected by a 16-month road closure said it was a relief to have things back to normal.

The £37m project between junction 47A at Haughley and junction 49 at Tot Hill in Suffolk included a total rebuild of the road.

National Highways fully reopened the section of road on Saturday.

Duncan Perry, chairman of Wetherden parish council, said the village had been used as a "rat run" but after the road reopened the village was now "peaceful".

Martin Giles/BBC Duncan Perry ( chair of Wetherden parish council )Martin Giles/BBC
Duncan Perry says residents in Wetherden reported damage to houses, sleep disruption and mental health concerns due to the increase in traffic

Mr Perry said some homes were damaged, people found it difficult to sleep and others reported mental health issues as a result of the increased traffic.

"The village got used as a rat run by lots of vehicles coming off the A14 but also a lot of local traffic that didn't want to go through those roadworks.

"So you had the pleasure of large container vehicles coming through the village and the streets really aren't wide enough for that.

"A lot of the houses bordering the main road don't have proper foundations and so forth.

"They were built back in the 1500s and 1600s and they didn't think of HGVs and such, so there was a lot of damage to houses.

"Now, it's peaceful, quiet and back to normality," he added.

Martin Giles/BBC Rob cook ( logistics manager , precon products)Martin Giles/BBC
Rob Cook said lorry drivers were being delayed with deliveries because of the roadworks

Rob Cook, logistics manager at Precon Products, based near Elmswell, said the roadworks affected the business, with drivers getting stuck in queues while parts of the road were shut.

He said: "It has been difficult.

"One of the main issues [has been] getting trucks back each day to load up and have timely loading and then getting them back out and our drivers getting out to get to their deliveries."

He said there had been a "big financial cost", largely due to overtime for staff.

The road reopening fully was a "big sigh of relief", he added.

National Highways said: "We understand the impact of roadworks on this scale and apologise for the inconvenience caused."

It said it tried to reduce diverting traffic on to local roads and that the changes would improve safety and extend the road life.

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