AN initiative like the northern bypass would have alleviated the pressure on the town’s road network after last week’s onion spill, an Ipswich Star poll has suggested.
The town was gridlocked for most of the day on Wednesday following two incidents on the A14, which left motorists trying to get their destination by travelling through Ipswich.
Readers took to our website to vent their anger at the police and Highways Agency, questioning why it took so long to clear the problems and re-open the roads.
A poll on our website revealed that 81 per cent of the 349 people who voted said a project like the northern bypass – linking the A14 north of Ipswich with the A12 in Martlesham – would have eased traffic in Ipswich.
One motorist said: “Clearly, a northern bypass is felt to be necessary yet, time and again, these developments are completed without it materialising.”
Another reader George Copping added: “Ipswich needs a northern bypass now to provide an alternative route as we cannot carry on like this.”
Three lanes of the Orwell Bridge had to be closed on Wednesday, which had a disastrous knock-on effect for other routes in Ipswich.
Traffic was diverted off the A14 at Nacton and slowly moved through Ransomes Europark, which had an impact on Landseer Road and Felixstowe Road.
Traffic in Colchester Road and Wherstead Road was also moving slowly as motorists were forced off the A14 before the Orwell Bridge at Wherstead. Ipswich Borough Council’s transport portfolio holder, Phil Smart, questioned whether the northern bypass would have helped traffic in Ipswich.
He added: “My own feeling is that what we have got here are accidents caused by lorries in both cases and that really, long term, we should be looking at putting more goods on rail.”
Ipswich MP Ben Gummer added: “When this was last mooted there was such a determined campaign against it, it was politically impossible.”
n Do you think Ipswich needs a northern bypass to avoid such traffic chaos? Write to Your Letters, Ipswich Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or you can send an e-mail to starletters@archant.co.uk
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