Sudbury councillor calls for road sign direction change to divert HGV traffic away from town’s most congested areas

A road signage error on a key interchange near Sudbury has prompted calls to use the opportunity to implement changes, to help divert traffic away from the town’s most congested roads.

Town councillor Steve Hall has urged Essex Highways to amend a newly-installed sign at the Boreham Interchange, by directing traffic into Sudbury via the A12.

This differs from the current version, which instead directs drivers to the town via the A131.

The issue came to light last week, after motorists shared images of the sign on social media to highlight an unrelated issue – the misspelling of Chelmsford without an ‘f’.

Essex Highways apologised for the mistake and confirmed a replacement would be installed as soon as possible – but Cllr Hall told SuffolkNews the authority should take the chance to revise the signage.

He is also writing to the town councils in Sudbury and Halstead for their support, off the back of past joint meetings with the highways agencies of Suffolk and Essex in recent years, as part of the Strategic Lorry Review.

The two councils have previously raised concerns about traffic congestion and pollution being exacerbated by heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), which are often diverted along narrow roads in both towns, if they travel via the A131.

Mr Hall explained that the benefit of sending HGV traffic via the A12 instead is they would approach Sudbury from the side of the industrial estate.

In doing so, they would avoid the most congested streets near the town centre, such as Cross Street – a known problem area for pollution.

“It makes much more sense to bring traffic up the A12, along the A143 and straight on to the industrial estate, rather than along Ballingdon Hill and through the narrow roads,” he told the Free Press.

“It would avoid hold-ups and congestion, and it also reduces standing pollution. It’s not good for HGVs to travel slowly, because, if they are constantly braking, it creates brake dust.

“Where we can push traffic to the outer edges, the route might be slightly further, but travelling at speed, it has surely got to be better or at least an equal journey time, but with less congestion and pollution.

“I’ve represented the town council at meetings with Essex Highways and Highways England. One of the things that came out of those joint meetings was that the signage at the Boreham Interchange was changed to remove Sudbury from directions along the A131.

“During the maintenance on the A12, they removed the directional signs for the A131 to Sudbury but, because this new interchange has come in, they have totally ignored that, and they are directing people towards the A131 again.

“The new interchange has not changed the previous position,” Mr Hall added.

SuffolkNews has contacted Essex Highways for comment on the matter.

At the time of going to press, the authority had only stated that it is replacing the sign at the Boreham Interchange to amend the Chelmsford spelling error.

However, it has not yet confirmed whether any further changes will be made to the sign’s directions.