‘Lost’ lorry drivers seeking places to park for the night on Felixstowe seafront / Protests over Orwell Bridge 50mph limit ‘will be considered’, says agency
Action is being taken to stop problems with “lost” lorries clogging up parts of Felixstowe seafront – with some of the drivers seeking places to illegally park-up overnight.
Trucks have been causing a nuisance in the southern end of the town for the past year due to increasing business of offices and depots in the area.
Residents complained that heavy lorries visiting business premises in the early hours, arriving mostly between 3am and 4am, were rattling windows, waking people up and shaking homes.
The trucks have been travelling along Beach Station Road and along Langer Road to visit business parks in Carr Road and Schneider Close to collect paperwork needed to unload containers on the Port of Felixstowe.
Police say they have mostly got to grips with this problem, thanks to help from the haulage companies, but now are having to deal with drivers “lost” in the area, some looking for places to park for the night.
Sgt Peter Street told Felixstowe and District Safer Neighbourhood Team community panel a 7.5tonne limit on the resort’s roads meant lorries could not park, but access to reach premises was still permitted.
Part of the problem was that many of the drivers found where they should not be were foreign nationals and officers then have to use a phone translation service or call in traffic officers.
Talks are now under way with highways officials for improved signs in the area to explain the restrictions, and direct trucks on the right routes to prevent them clogging up narrow seafront roads.
Sgt Street said: “The directors of the haulage companies have been very positive and some have taken action to drastically improve the lorry situation.
“We have elminated the problem of lorries coming into the area to pick up invoices, and we now need to eliminate them coming to the seafront for fish and chips and educate them about parking at night.
“We will continue to put pressure on but we cannot guarantee there will be no lorries at all.”
Traffic on the Orwell Bridge
Highways chiefs say all objections made to proposals for a 50mph speed limit on the Orwell Bridge will be considered before a final decision is made.
Officers say the speed cut is needed for safety reasons – following 32 accidents in the past three years.
But some road users are unhappy with the change, claiming reduced journey times could harm the economy of the area – though those in favour say crashes and closure of the A14, and ensuing gridlock in Ipswich, also hits business.
The Highways Agency has published legal notices explaining the cut from 70mph to 50mph between Wherstead and Nacton and people have until tomorrow to register objections.
A Highways Agency spokeswoman said: “We remain absolutely committed to improving safety on the Orwell Bridge and we are taking forward proposals that will help to reduce the number of incidents along this stretch of the A14.
“We promised we would review the speed limit and we have. We’ve spoken to our partners about what the appropriate speed limit should be and how it would work in practice.
“We have spoken to stakeholders and reached a broad agreement that 50mph is the right speed limit for the bridge.
“Changing the speed limit is a statutory process – part of which involves publishing a public notice, which we did on January 2.
The town makes a lot of money from the port industry. Build proper parking and facilities near the port. Better than the waste of money being spent on the flower gardens beside the council offices.
ReplyDeleteVery true Patrick, thats what the Routemaster was originally built for. Now its been sold here is the perfect use for it.
ReplyDeleteRe the Orwell bridge, a better idea would be to raise the height of the walls to prevent people trying to get a "view" and not concentrating on the traffic. This would have the added benefit of reducing the effects of the wind.
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