NEARLY £6million is to be spent on improvements to four stretches of trunk roads in East Anglia over the next few weeks.

The work will take place in Essex and Cambridgeshire on vital routes linking Felixstowe and Ipswich with the rest of the country.

Road improvement work is due to take place on the westbound carriageway of the A14 between the Histon and Girton junctions to the north of Cambridge – the Girton interchange is where the A14 meets the M11.

Further afield there will be improvements to the A1 near Peterborough.

New technology – including signs and direct information for drivers – is being installed on the A12 between Stratford St Mary and Ardleigh, and further south in Essex near Kelvedon.

The improvements are part of a £317m nationwide improvement scheme for the nation’s trunk roads, including an extra £100m announced in the autumn statement.

Roads Minister Stephen Hammond said: “The Government is committed to cutting congestion and accelerating growth – that is why the Chancellor injected an extra £100m into the Highways Agency pinch point programme last autumn.

“This third round of innovative schemes has the potential to help create more than 94,000 new jobs and 61,000 new homes, while making life easier for the thousands of motorists and businesses who use these roads every day.”

The schemes have already been drawn up by Highways Agency architects and construction work is expected to get under way next year.