Delays expected due to double lane closure on bridge
Rush hour drivers were expected to feel the brunt of worsened traffic on the Orwell Bridge near Ipswich after two lanes were shut at the same time.
They were closed on the major route through Suffolk to allow for £6m repair works to continue on Monday.
Widespread delays previously broke out when an eastbound carriageway was closed on Monday, 23 June, which was followed by a westbound lane on Saturday.
Martin Fellows, from National Highways, warned motorists using the A14 to "allow extra time" for their journeys.
While the lanes were shut, traffic was limited to 60mph on the eastbound side and 40mph for those travelling west while the contraflow system was in place.
Work to replace 37-year-old joints on the bridge was expected to be completed by late August.
It has been a point of concern for Dan Trent, owner of Dan's Coach Travel in Stowmarket.
"It's causing delays to our customers, passengers, drivers - it's causing them stress that they don't need," he said.
Mike Barrett, who runs a food charity in Ipswich, added the traffic was already increasing "mileage, delivery times, fuel costs" prior to the westbound closure.
Queues had previously gone back as far as Sproughton and caused delays on the A12 at the Copdock Interchange.
National Highways acknowledged the traffic issues but said the structural project was essential.
Mr Fellows thanked drivers for their patience in the interim.
"We remain confident that all works will be completed by mid to late August, as originally planned," he added.
"The A14 will still be your best route whilst we are doing this work, so please stay on the A14, but allow extra time for your journey."
Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Next stage of Orwell Bridge closure delayed
What could solve Orwell Bridge traffic chaos?
Bridge safety works causing 'chaos', say businesses
National Highways - The Orwell Bridge
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Lightening the automotive future with Gordon Murray
Light-weighting is a key area of focus for many OEMs due to key outcomes on fuel efficiency and vehicle performance. British supercar manufacturer, Gordon Murray Group, is taking the concept of lightweighting one step further by creating a new generation of ultra-lightweight, environmentally friendly vehicle structures. The project named 'Project M-LightEn, (Monocoque architecture – Lightweight and Low Energy) aims to create a new vehicle monocoque architecture that is lighter and stronger, alongside being 50% less carbon intensive in three years. With a goal of achieving enhanced performance through further weight reduction, the process aims to enable future Gordon Murray Automotive vehicles to achieve the lowest lifecycle carbon footprint of any supercar. We spoke to Jean-Philippe Launberg, strategy and business development director at the Gordon Murray Group, to learn more about the environmental benefits of lightweighting vehicles, and what this project aims to achieve. Just Auto (JA): Could you tell me about 'Project M-LightEn'? Jean-Philippe Launberg (JL): It aims to give us solutions for future portfolio vehicles. We always need to be innovating. One key area for us is lightweighting, which gives a distinctive feel to the vehicles and dynamics. The best way to do that is to find new materials, new manufacturing processes and new design methodologies. That is what this project aims to do. The project aims not to deliver one specific vehicle, but a set of solutions that we can apply to a portfolio of vehicles that we have already defined internally. It's what's going to be underpinning those future vehicles from a structures point of view, that's what the project is about. Every time there's a new technology, there's always a bit of a challenge in the auto industry to get it out there. If you are a large, global OEM, there's only so many new things you're willing to try, because there are a lot of investments which have been made. For us and our model of making roughly 100 vehicles per year, (and not always keeping something in production for a very long time), this allows us to have a faster cycle and better opportunities to work with other companies, which are our partners, to come in and apply something in production, which can then be extended into the wider automotive world. We see ourselves as having a role to play in the wider industry by being the conduit for some new solutions. The project aims to be 50% less carbon intensive - how will this be achieved? Our future cars will be a hybrid of composites and aluminium structures, this has started already with the T.33. We use virgin aluminium in this project and we will be trying out an aluminium which is more than 80% post-consumer scrap content. I have about 100 kilos of Nespresso pods in recycling bags in the floor of my office, which I plan to make the first one out of. We're taking window frames, Coke cans, Nespresso pods; the UK has a lot of aluminium waste, but it doesn't get reprocessed in the UK, it goes overseas. We will use at least 80% recycled aluminium from consumer scrap, and through some projects which are still confidential. We will scale that up. Something else we are looking at is embedded carbon. On many vehicles there's a lot of embedded carbon in carbon fibre. We use a lot of it, and most sports cars use a lot of it, and that's a lot of the footprint that is in the manufacturing phase. One of the points that we want to do with 'Carbon 360' (which is the composites partner in this program), is to use techniques to apply carbon fibre only where a component really needs it, where the stresses are higher. You can tune the amount of carbon fibre, its orientation, and how it's applied inside this one specific component, instead of having a blanket use approach. This is called tailor fibre placement. That way we reduce the amount of carbon fibre, which has a lot of environmental impacts, and we also have a strong effort to reduce the waste in producing carbon fibre. It's like cutting fabric for clothing, there's always waste. We are trying to minimise that waste, to get it as close to zero as we can. All that energy, which is in the waste, if it's going to be reused recycled later on, you still have to spend energy in the first place. These are the two points that from a composite point of view we are working on. We also want to avoid any well welding, because that's energy intensive, and replace that with a high level of structural bonding. From a methodology point of view, we will be embracing all three partners' generative designs. We're going to use machine learning tools to do hundreds, if not thousands of system optimisations, and generate the design rather than starting from a big piece of aluminium or metal, and then subtracting from that - which has been the norm of the industry so far. We want to generate it from a computer algorithm, and let that help us generate new designs, only putting materials into use where required. How does lightweighting benefit the environment? You usually don't think that people that manufacture V12 sports cars care much about the environment, right? The fact is, though, we do. We don't make a big fuss out of it; we don't advertise it, but we do. We intended to not only pursue lightweighting, but also look at how we can align it and team it up with a reduced carbon footprint. These are vehicles which do not drive large distances in their lifecycle. It's way different from, say, an Opel/Vauxhall Corsa, for instance. The majority of our vehicle's impact, CO2 footprint-wise, is going to be from the factory phase. You usually don't think that people that manufacture V12 sports cars care much about the environment, right? We have thought about can we reduce weight, which helps us with dynamics and driver engagement, and at the same time use it to decrease the CO2 footprint. We have a pretty good indication that we are already amongst the cleanest supercar makers as a result of our extreme light-weighting. It uses less composites, less aluminium and less petrol. It's amazing what mileage you can get on a T.50 if you stick to the 70 miles per hour limit on the motorway. We've seen some amazing figures, but we shouldn't stop there. It's also about making our owners feel better about themselves and we feel as a company that we are helping to sustain this niche of the industry, an essential part of it, for the longer term. It's also very debatable how clean an electric supercar really is. Now, obviously, when they drive, there's no pollution, but because they tend to be twice as heavy or more, that manufacturing phase is very energy intensive indeed, and it ends up defining their whole footprint, their life footprint. What do you hope others in the industry will take from this project? I think one of the things we'd like to inspire is that there's not one solution for everything. The solution doesn't have fit to the specific objective that you have in mind, and the type of vehicle you plan to use it in. It's very easy to try to either legislate a solution or to assume that the same solution should be used all the way from off-highway vehicles to a sports car. What we want to show is that you can pursue new solutions that will deliver the intended impact, at a very high level, but they can still be supportive of your company's differentiators as well. We have very strong indications that if we were to at least sit with the technology existing today, if we were making an electric supercar, it would actually have a higher footprint than an equivalent ICE one, because of that heavy CO2 manufacturing phase. If you are only driving 1,200 to 1,500 miles a year on average, you know will never offset that initial hit. This project is also very interesting because it's very powertrain agnostic. We can use the solutions from M-LightEn on vehicles of very different shapes, and in all powertrain types. There's no reason why it couldn't become an EV. The solutions can be applied to an EV, and I actually do expect that they will. They can still underpin a V12 petrol car as well, and anything in between, any hybrids in between, and that's all part of our future portfolio. What is the main goal of this project? We will improve our footprint, and introduce new methodologies into design and engineering, through machine learning, and generative design. We will be using all the solutions we developed and I think we have a good road map to get there, to make it all worthwhile. We will improve our footprint, and introduce new methodologies into design and engineering We will use all those solutions, then we hope that during the program, our partners will already start to find applications they can utilise. They're fine to do it and they're encouraged to do it. This is a jointly generated IP, and they should explore their share of the IP as well. We think we can leave a little bit of impact on the industry as a whole. Project M-LightEn will enable decarbonisation across the wider automotive industry by shortening and de-risking the path to market for innovative new materials and processes. "Lightening the automotive future with Gordon Murray" was originally created and published by Just Auto, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Fuel margins remain high despite lower prices at the pump, watchdog finds
Drivers are still being hit with high fuel margins despite lower prices at the pump, the competition watchdog has said. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said retailers' margins – the difference between what they pay for fuel and what they sell it at – remained high compared to historic levels. Fuel prices across the UK fell for both petrol and diesel over the three months to the end of May by 7.6 pence per litre (ppl) and 8.4 ppl respectively. But the CMA found that fuel margins were similar to the high levels seen during its road fuel market study – a review of the market to understand the factors influencing fuel prices undertaken in 2023 – which suggested overall competition in the UK's road fuel retail market remained 'weak'. Supermarket fuel margins fell from 8.9% in December 2024 to 7.9% in February 2025, before rising to 8.3% in March 2025, the regulator found. Non-supermarket fuel margins fell from 9.9% in December 2024 to 8.9% in January 2025, before rising to 10.4% in March 2025. The CMA also looked at the retail spread – the average price that drivers pay at the pump compared to the benchmarked price that retailers buy fuel at – across the UK from March 2025 to May 2025. It found that petrol retail spreads averaged 15.4 ppl, which was 1.5 ppl higher than the previous four-month period – and still more than double the average of 6.5 ppl over 2015 to 2019. Diesel retail spreads averaged 18.8 ppl, which was 4.6 ppl higher than the previous four-month period and more than double the average of 8.6 ppl in 2015 to 2019. Dan Turnbull, senior director of markets at the CMA, said: 'While there is uncertainty over how global events will impact the price of oil, our report shows fuel margins remain high compared to historic levels despite lower prices at the pump in recent months. 'The Government committed to launching a 'fuel finder' scheme following our recommendation to help drivers compare real-time prices and boost competition. 'Once launched, it will make it easier than ever to shop around and find the best deals.' RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: 'Given fuel is a major expense for households, and with eight in 10 drivers dependent on their cars, it's disappointing to see they've paid over the odds yet again. 'We have to hope the launch of the Government-backed Fuel Finder scheme, due at the end of the year, will stimulate competition and finally lead to fairer pump prices.' AA president Edmund King said: 'Once again, the CMA has exposed boosted margins and profits from petrol and diesel. Road fuel is a critical part of a consumer and family budgets. Increased fuel costs have a major influence on inflation. 'While the hope is that pump price reporting, which becomes mandatory at the start of the next year, might bring about more competition, what is happening now is not only bad news for drivers and businesses but also siphoning off potential consumer spending for the likes of tourism and others.' Mr King added: 'The clear and present danger now is the cost of petrol and diesel along holiday routes. Some of the prices are outrageous and we can only hope that drivers take maximum advantage of the price transparency provided by the CMA's voluntary reporting scheme to locate the competitive forecourts.'


Motor 1
an hour ago
- Motor 1
Lotus Might Build Cars at Volvo Factory In America
Over the weekend, multiple reports emerged suggesting Lotus might shut down its historic Norfolk plant and cease car production in the United Kingdom. However, those rumors have since been denied: 'Lotus Cars is continuing normal operations, and there are no plans to close the factory.' The statement followed reports from the BBC and Financial Times , which alleged that the Geely-controlled sports car brand was planning to end UK production, putting 1,300 jobs at risk. While the British plant isn't shutting down, Lotus has acknowledged it's 'actively exploring strategic options to enhance efficiency and ensure global competitiveness in the evolving market.' According to Automotive News , CEO Feng Qingfeng said during the company's Q1 earnings call last week that Lotus is considering building cars in the United States to avoid tariffs: 'We are trying to leverage our U.S. strategy to catch up the losses due to the tariff hike. We believe that localization is a feasible plan.' Lotus Emira Photo by: Lotus Building an entirely new factory from the ground up isn't realistic for a low-volume brand like Lotus . Instead, Automotive News claims that the Emira sports car and electric models could be assembled at Volvo's factory in South Carolina. Opened in 2018, the Ridgeville facility has a maximum annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles but has never reached that figure. It currently produces only the EX90 and Polestar 3, following the discontinuation of the S60 in June last year. In May, Volvo announced that it would reduce its workforce at the plant by 5%, approximately 125 of the 2,500 employees. However, it still plans to create 4,000 new jobs and increase production in the long run. It remains unclear whether parent company Geely has made a final decision to manufacture Lotus models at the 2.3 million-square-foot Ridgeville site. Lotus is under pressure to act quickly, as the U.S. is its fifth-largest market. Emira exports were halted in April due to steep tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. Feng confirmed that deliveries will resume in August, when the 2026 Emira is scheduled to arrive at dealerships. The Eletre SUV and Emeya sedan, both electric and made in China, are currently unavailable in the U.S. The Eletre briefly reached American shores, but sales were suspended due to tariffs on Chinese EVs. Lotus Eletre Photo by: Lotus Lotus Emeya Regardless of what happens in the U.S., Lotus insists it won't shut down its UK operations: 'We have invested significantly in R&D and operations in the UK over the past six years. Lotus remains committed to the UK—and to its customers, employees, dealers, suppliers, and proud British heritage. The UK is the heart of the Lotus brand—home to our sports car manufacturing, global design center, motorsport operations, and Lotus Engineering. It is also our largest commercial market in Europe.' Shutting down the Norfolk site would be another setback for Britain's shrinking car industry. UK car production in May dropped by a third compared to the same month in 2024, reaching a 76-year low. Only 49,810 cars were built, the lowest May figure since 1949, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Beyond Lotus, other British automakers, such as Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin, have also scaled back U.S. exports due to rising tariffs. The SMMT reports that shipments to the U.S. fell by a whopping 55.4% in May compared to the same month of last year, primarily due to these trade barriers. The U.S. share of exports decreased from 18.2% to 11.3%. Catch Up With Lotus: The Lotus Emira Could Ditch Its V-6 for a V-8 Lotus Emira With Yellow Exhaust Tips Pays Tribute to an F1 GOAT Sources: Lotus , Automotive News , BBC , Financial Times , Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Share this Story Facebook X LinkedIn Flipboard Reddit WhatsApp E-Mail Got a tip for us? Email: tips@ Join the conversation ( )