A county councillor has claimed residents want to see more options in regards to changes to the Copdock junction on the A14, as public consultation into the project continues.

The Suffolk county councillor for Belstead Brook, Christopher Hudson, said he is considering raising a motion about the changes to the Copdock junction to avoid making the "highway to hell" any worse.

Last month, National Highways revealed two possible options to improve traffic flow at the notorious interchange. There is currently no funding committed to either idea.

Option one is to increase the capacity of the existing junction to help accommodate future demand by widening the circulatory carriageway and providing free flow left turn lanes at three of the four entry arms.

Option two - named option four by National Highways - would involve building a new free flow two-way grade-separated link road. The aim would be to decrease the volume of traffic at the existing junction by removing the A12 (South) to A14 (East) (and vice versa) movements onto separate link roads.

But Cllr Hudson said that "at least 10 contacts" had spoken to him about the dissatisfaction with both options on offer.

He said: "There were supposedly four options to consider but we've only been presented with two - and of those there's only one that residents say they're able to even consider because it's least harmful.

"Option four is the one cheesing people off big-time, with residents worried about the noise, biodiversity and value for money, among other things.

"Obviously the junction needs to be sorted out, but we'd like to see a wider selection of options than those provided."

Two public information events have already been held, with two more planned in the coming weeks.

These will be held at:

  • Belstead Village Hall - Saturday, November 20 11am-6pm
  • Copdock Village Hall - Friday, November 26 2pm-8pm

National Highways project manager James Goodman said: "We are really pleased with how the consultation into possible improvements at the Copdock junction on the A14 is going so far.

"The first two face-to-face events have been very successful and there are two more to go before the consultation finishes on December 9, so there's still plenty of time for people to get involved."