Work is due to start early next month on a near £1million scheme to ease traffic congestion in east Ipswich.

Ipswich Star: Traffic flows on the A1189 between John Lewis and Sainsbury's Warren Heath store.Traffic flows on the A1189 between John Lewis and Sainsbury's Warren Heath store.

Ransomes Way, between the Warren Heath roundabout and the roundabout to Ransome’s Europark and Futura Park, is to be widened and have extra lanes added in a bid to speed up traffic.

The work is due to start on July 3 and is scheduled to take 19 weeks – it should be completed by the end of November to ensure the road is clear during the Christmas period.

It is the first phase of a scheme to ease traffic congestion between the Nacton Road junction with the A14 and the Warren Heath roundabout – partly funded by the developers behind Futura Park which includes the Waitrose and John Lewis At Home stores. Work to widen Nacton Road between the Ravenswood and A14 roundabouts is expected to start early next year once all the necessary legal procedures and land purchases have been completed.

All the work will be carried out by Suffolk County Council’s highways engineering partners Kier MG.

Suffolk County Council cabinet member for transport James Finch said the priority would be to ease disruption as much as possible while the work is being carried out.

The roads will remain open most of the time, and there should be no roadworks during peak hours. Any total road closures will be confined to overnight resurfacing work.

Mr Finch said: “We will be timing the work in a bid to ease disruption as much as possible – that is our priority. But we do need to do this to ease congestion which is already an issue along those roads.”

Local residents, staff of nearby businesses, and shoppers using stores in the area will be receiving leaflets explaining the work and outlining how it should improve their journeys in the long term.