HIGHWAYS chiefs have been applauded on their ideas for making the deathtrap dock spur roundabout at Felixstowe safer – and told to get on with it urgently.

HIGHWAYS chiefs have been applauded on their ideas for making the deathtrap dock spur roundabout at Felixstowe safer – and told to get on with it urgently.

Town councillors believe there are merits in all four options put forward for solving the problems at the A14 junction and stopping lorries from overturning.

They favour two of the schemes drawn up by the agency, but are worried that securing the cash could prove almost impossible.

The council has written to urge the agency to get on with a scheme as quickly as possible and pledged to do all it can to campaign to help it come to fruition.

Councillors decided against making a straight choice over which scheme they preferred, but felt the £120,000 project to realign the Felixstowe-bound entrance to the roundabout or the £198,000 realignment and separation of lorries and cars heading for the town and port were the best solutions.

They rejected the £120,000 speed limit project and the £385,000 idea of making the roundabout smaller.

The scheme to separate traffic is the only option which will ensure that if a lorry does flip over, it will not land on a car.

The present drawings show that a concrete barrier would force vehicles heading for the town and port into two lanes as they approached the junction and then keep them apart as they went round it.

Councillors feel that if this scheme is chosen – Trimley councillors feel it is the best option – cost could be reduced by removing the concrete barrier and using hatching or rumble strips to separate traffic.

Realignment of the junction without the traffic separation would force vehicles to slow down to make a more deliberate turn into the junction. If they still flipped over, it is believed they would fall onto the roundabout.

The town council is urging police, and county and district councils to work together to persuade the Government that money should be spent on the roundabout.

With 30,000 lorries using the junction every week, experts say it will be difficult to avoid some crashes – but the priority is to prevent a further fatal accident.

It is now more than two months since motorist Martin O'Sullivan was killed when a lorry crushed his car, and campaigners have been working to secure safety improvements.

The Highways Agency has already carried out £25,000 of work at the junction since the fatal crash, putting in risk-of-overturning signs, chevrons, coloured road surfacing and strengthening rumble strips, and is planning fencing.