A14 toll road between Huntingdon and Cambridge outlined

Proposals for a new stretch of the A14 to be funded by a toll system have been revealed.

The Highways Agency on Monday begins its consultation over the £1.5bn scheme between Cambridge and Huntingdon.

The plan put forward is for a new stretch of A14 between Ellington and Swavesey and a widening of the A1 between Brampton and Alconbury.

According to the consultation document, the toll of between £1 and £1.50 for cars would be for the new A14 stretch.

It says the toll cost could be double for heavy goods vehicles.

Heading out from Ellington, the new stretch heads south and east bypassing Huntingdon.

The Highways Agency says the existing A14 through Huntingdon will no longer be needed as a strategic through-route and will no longer be a trunk road when the new scheme is completed.

As a result, the bridge over the mainline railway, close to Huntingdon Station, will be demolished.

Whether or not the road should be a toll road will not form part of the consultation process, which finishes on 13 October.

Instead, the public will be asked about "the best and most convenient way that tolls could be applied and also on the lengths of road over which tolls could be charged."

If construction begins in 2016, the new stretch should be completed within three or four years, the Highways Agency said.

'Devil in the detail'

BBC Look East's political correspondent Andrew Sinclair said the government would provide about £1bn of the cost, with £100m from local authorities and about £300-400m expected to be raised through the tolls.

Mr Djanogly said the Department for Transport would now move the project forward to the planning stage and the appointment of a developer.

He said the announcement was "excellent news" for his constituents and for the economic prospects of East of England.

Stephen Blackmore said Turners' lorries used the A14 every day

"If traffic looks bad on the A14 now with it operating virtually at full capacity, this is nothing compared to the disastrous gridlock we shall have when the economy picks up again," he said.

"That is why we must go ahead and improve this road now and why I have been campaigning for so long on this issue."

Stephen Blackmore from hauliers Turners of Soham, said it was "very good news, but the caveat to that is the devil in the detail - what are the charges going to be?

"Which stretch of the road is going to be tolled? Until we have that detail, as a business we really don't know what the full implications are going to be."

Not very good for owner drivers either.