Ipswich-London travel survey tour

LOIS is coming to town – and she wants to know what you think of her!

The visit is part of a regional tour to find out what people think about travel between Ipswich and London.

The London to Ipswich multi-modal Study (Lois) is looking at all forms of transport between the region and the capital – mainly the A12 and the Great Eastern main rail line.

It's also aiming to improve public transport links between this area and Stansted Airport.

The study has been considering widening the A12 at major bottlenecks to improve road links.

It's also considered increasing capacity on the main rail line, allowing more trains to run to London.

And it looked at improving the cross-country link from Ipswich to Peterborough and Nuneaton to allow more freight to be carried on this link, avoiding London.

There are major fears that if nothing is done to improve the road network, East Anglia could effectively face London-style gridlock within the next 20 years.

Already some experts believe that the London morning rush-hour extends all the way down the A12 as far as Copdock Mill on the edge of Ipswich.

And with four trains an hour between London and Ipswich competing with other services to Colchester, Harwich, Clacton, Walton, and Braintree on the two-track main line between Colchester and Shenfield, there is no room for many more services at present – although the government is keen to move motorists on to rail services.

An exhibition showing the options will be held at the Ipswich Corn Exchange on Friday and Saturday April 26 and 27.

The study is being carried out for the Government Office of the Eastern Region (Go-East) by consultants Social Research Associates.

They are expected to draw up final recommendations for proposed new schemes by the end of the summer – and it will be up to Go-East whether any are adopted and implemented.

Weblink: www.lois-mms.co.uk