TRIMLEY: Villagers face two nights of disruption and disturbed sleep as traffic from the county’s busiest road is funnelled through their community.

Talks between residents and highways contractors have managed to stave off a worse situation – when it was estimated 2,000-plus lorries would have passed through.

Even so, Trimley St Martin and Trimley St Mary are bracing themselves for hundreds of lorries heading to and from the Port of Felixstowe and thousands of cars.

The work takes place on Saturday night, when the eastbound carriageway of the A14 will be closed to allow the new overhead gantry signs at Morston Hall and Trimley St Martin to be hoisted into place, and again on Saturday, September 25 when the westbound closure will enable work on signs at Levington.

Trimley St Mary Parish Council chairman Mary Dixon said talks had been held with the contractors BirseCivils Ltd, who originally proposed to do the work on weekday nights.

“There would have been far more traffic and our case convinced them of the problems this would cause, so they moved it to weekends when there should be fewer lorries,” she said.

“We wanted a contraflow used, but were told this would be too difficult and expensive because of the crash barriers.

“The work will affect one direction one week and the other the next.”

She said residents along High Road would be sent letters explaining the situation.

There was still concern over the narrow parts of the street and householders parking on the road – such as near Trimley Methodist Church, where a bus collided with several parked cars one night – should consider parking elsewhere for the nights of the work.

People would also need to be extra careful crossing the busy road between 9pm and 6am.

The electronic signs will provide advance warnings of queuing or stationary traffic, information about expected journey times and diversions.

Use of CCTV will help improve traffic flow and monitor major incidents including improving response times to incidents by the emergency services.

Ian Harrison, project team leader for the Highways Agency traffic technology division said: “By linking the whole of the A14 to this hi-tech information system, we aim to provide a much improved journey for the users of this vital trunk road and people using this important port.”

? Should the traffic be sent through the villages? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN, or e-mail evening starletters@eveningstar.co.uk