Five more years of traffic jams at A12/A14 Copdock Junction

And there are growing fears National Highways will reject plans for a comprehensive rebuild - saying a modest upgrade is good enough for the Suffolk bottleneck.

In 2021 National Highways published a public consultation on improvements to the junction - saying work would start during next Road Improvement Strategy (RIS3) which runs from 2025-30.

Last week Transport Secretary Mark Harper announced that a number of road projects had now been moved from RIS3 to RIS4 (2030-35) - including Copdock Junction.

A spokesman for National Highways said: “Given that many of these schemes were expected to be delivered towards the end of RIS3, the extra time will help ensure that well planned and efficient schemes will be deployed in the future.” 

There were two proposals in the consultation - one for a comprehensive new junction which had widespread support from road users, and one just widening the roundabout.

Fears are growing that the government will go for the cheaper option - which could reach capacity a few years after its completion.

Suffolk Chamber has been campaigning for improvements to the A14 for years.

Paul Simon, from Suffolk Chamber. (Image: Suffolk Chamber of Commerce)

Paul Simon from the Chamber said: “With this announcement, the tide seems to be potentially ebbing away on the business community’s long-held ambitions to make the A14 Growth Corridor in Suffolk the country’s premier international trade and route. 

“Furthermore, Suffolk Chamber understands that National Highways might have switched its prospective preferred solution for the Copdock Interchange to a far more modest version than the one originally championed by them.

"If this is true, this is most frustrating news since the Suffolk Chamber was involved in National Highways stakeholder group and has received no communications to this effect.”