National Highways completes A14 road rebuild

A stretch of the A14 in Suffolk is now fully open after National Highways completed a £37m project to reconstruct and replace the concrete road surface.

The project on the section of the A14 between Haughley (junction 47a) and Tothill (junction 49) included a total reconstruction of the road, installing a new safety barrier, clearing drains, repainting road markings, and inserting new reflective road studs.

It started in February 2023 and was due to finish this summer. Substantive work began in April 2023 on the eastbound carriageway, before moving over the westbound carriageway.

National Highways completely removed the old concrete road surface and some of the foundations, before rebuilding the road with recycled material made from crushed concrete and a new asphalt surface.

It said it expects the life of the road surface to be extended by up to 40 more years, following the reconstruction.

The project is a part of National Highways £400m RIS 2 programme to revitalise concrete roads, which make up almost 400 miles (4%) of the strategic road network and are mostly found along the eastern side of the country.

It has said it will either repair or replace around half of the old-style concrete roads in the East region, including stretches on the A11, A14, A12, A120 and M11.