Traffic

Traffic problems in the parish of Sproughton have existed for at least a decade. The routes through the village regularly get brought to a standstill during rush hour or when there are traffic problems on the wider road network which forces drivers off the A12 & A14 and through the village. With the new building in Sproughton and surrounding parishes the load on the road network has increased noticeably and will continue to increase if the 1,514 homes due to be built in the parish come forward. In addition we are surrounded by parishes that all expect significant housing development in the next 0-15yrs this will place an increasing load on the road infrastructure which without considered mitigation measures being implemented seem likely to bring us all to a standstill in this area.

From data gathering perspective to provide supporting evidence residents need to continue logging incidents with the police either by phone or online. It would be extremely helpful if incidents can also be logged on this website so we have a complete picture/audit trail of what has happened & when.

Reports can be logged at the bottom of the page

There are specific problems associated with the following roads:-

1) Burstall Lane: This is a narrow country lane with high sides leading from Burstall to Sproughton. Drivers use this road as a rat run when the Beagle Roundabout is busy and tend to speed down the road leading to a possibility of a crash where the road narrows points where it is difficult for two cars to pass each other - this is particularly true just above the entrance to Ransomes Close.

2) High Street: This road is built over the course of an old Roman Road. The houses lining the road date from the C16th onwards and is narrow, with narrow pavements. Residents tend to park their cars on one side of the road only intending to minimise disruption to traffic. This makes it difficult for two cars to pass each other without going on the pavement. Drivers do not want to give way so this leads to frequent confrontations. The parked cars are often damaged e.g. having wing mirrors removed. There are no alternate parking places. Residents wish to continue parking outside their houses (some have young children, some are disabled)  It is felt that the parked cars slow the traffic down and removal of parking by the implementation of double yellow lines would simply speed up the traffic to dangerous levels.

3) Loraine Way: The High Street becomes Loraine Way so the traffic problems on the High Street spill over onto Loraine Way to an extent. It is not unusual for the 4-way junction of High Street, Burstall Lane, Lower Street and Loraine Way to become grid-locked.

4) Lower Street: Lower Street has similar problems to the High Street in that cars park on one side of the road from the bungalows to the 4-way junction. Again it is difficult for 2 cars to pass side by side so queues build up.

On Monday 13th Sept 21 a public meeting was held in the Tithe Barn to discuss the traffic issues experienced by residents of the High Street. The meeting also covered traffic problems experienced by other parishioners living on Lower Street, Church Lane and Burstall Lane. This meeting was attended by PC Mike Small, Hadleigh Community Engagement Team & Helen Lightfoot (Safety & Speed Management Engineer) from Suffolk County Council. After a (sometimes heated) debate the SCC representative agreed to take away and investigate a number of different options which could result in a multi-layer approach to addressing the issue and PC Small agreed to ask for increased presence to deter/catch speeding cars and to investigate a fixed speed camera. Options put forward were:-

1. 20mph speed limit on the High Street (& through the whole village)
2. Speed cameras to be placed at entry/exits to village
3. Formal parking bays along one side of the High Street
4. A priority system for the High Street
5. Railings/bollards to stop traffic going onto the pavement along High Street/Lower Street/Wildman junction
6. Enforce weight limit within the village (bridge over river)
7. 4-way phased traffic lights at Wildman junction
8. Yellow box at Wildman junction

Other points raised for further investigation were i) pollution at Wildman Junction, ii) construction traffic for the 3 solar farms coming through High Street, iii) diversion routes & temporary lifting of 7.5T weight limit, iv) A14 traffic noise and v) a slip road onto A14 at Copdock A12/A14 roundabout.