?? The A14 wasn't built until the '90s - a combination of new build from Catthorpe near Rugby to Kettering, online upgrade to dual carriageway of A604 between Kettering and Cambridge with a few bypasses and then renumbering of the A45 dual carriageway from Cambridge to Felixstowe. The original A14 was the Old North Road from London to Alconbury, now renumbered to a minor route.
Back in the '40/50s when outline plans for motorways where drawn up, a motorway would have run from Holyhead to Felixstowe roughly along the line of the current A5, M54, M6, current A14 but all we got was Rugby-Telford.
The A14 between Huntingdon and Cambridge has to cope with two major traffic flows, the A1-M11 traffic to/from the North and London / channel ports as well as the A14 traffic itself from Felixstowe (Britains busiest port) to the Midlands and North. On traffic flows it should be one of the UK's widest motorways, if not the widest.
As well as a "victory" for Suffolk-based hauliers taking containers from Felixstowe around the UK, this is also a "victory" for those living near the Huntingdon-Cambridge corridor as large numbers of vehicles would have used ordinary roads either side of the A14 to avoid the toll.
It's not a "victory" for motorists as it's still be a congested road running over capacity most of the time.
Edited by RT on 04/12/2013 at 08:23
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