The A14 is a major trunk road in England, running from Catthorpe Interchange, a major intersection at the southern end of the M6 and junction 19 of the M1 in Leicestershire to the Port of Felixstowe, Suffolk. The road forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E24 and E30. It is the busiest shipping lane in East Anglia carrying anything from cars to large amounts of cargo between the UK and Mainland Europe.
Route
Beginning at the Catthorpe Interchange, the A14 runs through Kettering, Northamptonshire towards Huntingdon where it now runs parallel to the A1 past Brampton, Cambridgeshire and now bypasses Huntingdon completely due to the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Scheme from 2017 until 2022. It continues past Bar Hill towards Cambridge to meet the end of the M11 and the A428 at the Girton Interchange. The A14 continues easterly over northern Cambridge towards Newmarket where it briefly joins with the A11 to form the Newmarket Bypass between J36 and J38. The A11 splits off again towards the North and the A14 continues through Bury St Edmunds, past Stowmarket then on to bypass Ipswich via the Orwell Bridge and finally comes to an end at the Port of Felixstowe fully connecting the Midlands to East Anglia.
The road is a dual carriageway, mostly with two lanes each way, but there are some dual three-lane sections: on the Newmarket bypass (between Junctions 36 and 38) where it runs concurrent with the A11, at Kettering (between Junctions 7 and 9) and as of December 2019, with the opening of the Cambridge to Huntington improvement scheme, dual three-lanes between Milton and the A1 Junction at Brampton (Junctions 22 to 33). There is also a short dual four-lane section of the A14 that runs between Bar Hill and the Girton Interchange. There are three at-grade junctions: with the junction 59 at Trimley St Martin in Cambridgeshire (junction 15); at the Leighton Bromswold turn a few miles to the east (junction 17); and at the Dockspur Roundabout at the edge of Felixstowe (junction 60).
There were two additional at-grade roundabouts along the former A14 main route, these being Brampton Hut Interchange (Junction 21) and Spittals Interchange (former Junction 23). However, these junctions are no longer part of the A14 since the opening of the new alignment south of Huntingdon in December 2019.
The old A14 from Huntingdon Spittals interchange to Godmanchester was closed both ways for a 2-year period, and has now reopened in 2022 as part of the A1307, after the Huntingdon railway viaduct has been dismantled. Link roads at Hinchingbrooke and Mill Common will connect the former A14 dual carriageway to the road network in Huntingdon.
History
The current A14 includes parts of the former A45 between Felixstowe and Cambridge, the A604 between Cambridge and Kettering, a short stretch of the former A6 west of Kettering, plus a new link road which was constructed in the early 1990s between there and the M1/M6 interchange at Catthorpe, Leicestershire. Prior to the current A14, the main route from Birmingham to the Haven ports followed the M6, M1, A428 and A45 via Coventry, Rugby, Northampton, Bedford, St Neots and Cambridge, and then went through all the towns on the A14 to Felixstowe. Prior to its use for the current route, the A14 designation had been used for a section of road between the A10 at Royston and the A1 at Alconbury, following part of the route of Ermine Street which is now designated the A1198 to Godmanchester and the A1307 to Alconbury. The section through Huntingdon is currently closed following the opening of the Huntingdon by-pass; Highways England plans to demolish a viaduct carrying the road over the River Great Ouse and the Great Northern railway and build junctions with local roads.
The M45 motorway was constructed in 1959 parallel to part of the old A45 in the Midlands. It opened on the same day as the M1 motorway and was soon one of the busiest sections of the motorway. The M6 opened in the late 1960s and early 1970s, after which more traffic to the ports used the route from junction 1 of the M6 via the A427 to Market Harborough, followed by a short section of the A6 to Kettering and then the A604 to Cambridge, before joining the old A45 to the ports as above. The M45 now carries little traffic.
The sections from Huntingdon east to the ports were upgraded first, starting with the Huntingdon bypass in 1973, followed by the Girton-to-Bar Hill section in 1975/76 and the Cambridge northern bypass and Cambridge/Newmarket section in 1976/77. The Bar Hill-to-Huntingdon section opened in 1979, prior to the M11 which was fully opened in 1980. The Ipswich southern bypass, including the Orwell Bridge, opened between 1982 and 1985.