A14: Roadworks causing significant losses, says Felixstowe haulier

A haulier says roadworks on the A14 in Suffolk are "causing significant increases in our losses" just as he hopes the industry is picking up.

National Highways is upgrading a 2.1-mile (3.5km) stretch between junctions 47a at Haughley and 49 at Tot Hill.

Mark Bennett, from VKVP Haulage in Felixstowe, said: "I don't think we've actually seen the worst of it yet."

Simon Amor, of National Highways, said "long term benefits" of the £37m scheme included "a smoother, quieter" road.

Work began on the reconstruction in February 2023.

It has involved putting the traffic into contraflow, meaning the dual carriageway is reduced to one lane in each direction.

VKVP operations director Mr Bennett said: "The [haulage] industry has been going through quite a patchy time, we're just seeing a bit of an increase in volume now and it is starting to feel like we're starting turn a corner and... these delays don't help."

He said he was concerned that the next phase of the work might increase the journey time of his Midlands-bound drivers.

He said: "We will see what happens day to day, but it is causing significant delays and therefore it is causing significant increases in our losses."

Grant McConochie, senior project manager with contractor John Sisk & Son, said the A14's concrete surface, which is more than 40 years old, had "lost any skid resistance, so in wet weather the cars can't stop".

National Highways, which manages the country's main roads, was "totally reconstructing the road from the foundations up", said Mr Armor, its head of scheme.

He added: "We thank road users for their patience while it's going on, but we ask them to look to the future and look to the benefits that this scheme is going to bring.

"At the end of the day, the uneven, noisy road surface is going to be replaced by a smoother, quieter asphalt one."

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