TRAFFIC bosses are considering a £15,000 project to dramatically improve the safety of one of Suffolk's accident blackspots.

Russell Claydon

TRAFFIC bosses are considering a £15,000 project to dramatically improve the safety of one of Suffolk's accident black spots.

Specialist high friction road surfacing is being considered as the preferred option to reduce accidents on the A1071 between Ipswich and Sudbury.

Another possibility is to straighten the hazardous bends near Hadleigh, but that would cost substantially more and is consequently being viewed as a last resort.

Over the past few weeks Suffolk County Council has had signs installed along the road to alert motorists that it is investigating ways to improve the safety of the road.

It is part of a wider plan to review 13 accident black spots around the county.

The EADT understands the council is close to pressing ahead with plans to cover the dangerous stretch of the A1071 at the junction with the B1070 at Hadleigh with a special Shell grip surface, which will reduce a vehicle's ability to lose control on the road.

According to council figures six people have been left injured as a result of crashes on the stretch of the Hadleigh bypass in the last three-and-a-half years, with two requiring extensive hospital treatment.

A spokesman said this made the single-carriageway stretch one of the most notorious accident sites in the county, meaning officers will now invest funds in safety measures in a bid to reduce crashes.

“We are responding to real conditions and events on the road,” he said. “These road improvements could save lives or prevent injuries and damage.

“The Shell grip surfacing would make the road very sticky to tyres and it is the stuff used on approaches to traffic lights - all this is provisional at the moment though.”

He said detailed design work is currently under way and should the council decide it would wish to alter the bends, it would have to approach Hadleigh Town Council.

A final decision on the type of safety measure to be installed is expected to come in the next few weeks.

The council is also investigating the road at the junction with the A134 at Newton, with a view to putting a similar scheme in place.

The other sites under investigation are: the Foxhall Road/Bell Lane junction in Kesgrave; the B1078 Barking Road south of Needham Market; the B1106 bend near the water tower at Brandon; the Dock Gate number two roundabout in Felixstowe; Ipswich Road in Grundisburgh; Church Street/Hockney Hill in Wetheringsett; the B1106 bend south of Summer Pit Farm, Culford; Station Road, Lakenheath; the B0168 at Higham; the B1077 Brome crossroads junction; the B1080 at Holbook; and the C663 bend at Little Saxham.