Orwell Bridge new speed limits during high winds

We're carrying out upgrades to the Orwell Bridge in Ipswich. We are installing new electronic signs showing changeable speed limits so that traffic can travel over the bridge at lower speeds safely even during high winds, meaning that we keep the bridge open more often during storms.

Start date 25 January 2021

End date March 2021

Cost £1.7m Million

Latest updates

11 January 2021
Road closures

We plan to complete this work over 7 weeks from Monday 25 January to Friday 12 March, subject to weather conditions.

We will be working between the hours of 9pm to 5am throughout the week.

Some lanes of the road will be closed during our work.

However, for safety purposes, we will need to close the A14 road eastbound from junction 55 to junction 58 overnight from 9pm to 5am for 5 nights, starting from Monday 1 March to Friday 5 March.

We will also need to close the A14 road westbound from junction 58 to junction 55 overnight from 9pm to 5am for 5 nights, starting from Monday 8 March to Friday 12 March.

Diversions

The diversion routes will need to be used during the full road closures only. Please use the official diversion routes as shown below.

Monday 1 March to Friday 5 March (9pm to 5am):
- Eastbound traffic will be diverted from the A14 at junction 55, exiting onto the A1214 / Yarmouth Road / Chevallier Street / Valley Road / Colchester Road / Woodbridge Road / Main Road before exiting onto the A12. Following the A12 before re-joining the A14 at junction 58. See map below
Monday 8 March to Friday 12 March (9pm to 5am):
- Westbound traffic will be diverted from A14 at junction 58 onto the A12, following this before exiting onto the A1214 / Main Road, continuing to the A1214 / Woodbridge Road / Colchester Road / Valley Road / Chevallier Street / Yarmouth Road before re-joining the A14 at junction 55. See map below
We will be encouraging long-distance traffic to take alternative routes to avoid congestion around our roadworks and ensure there are shorter delays to local journeys. To do this, we will use signs to give the most suitable diversion around the roadworks. Please follow the official diversions.

View diversion map.

See more updates

Project information

We will be installing new electronic signs on the bridge which will display changeable driver speed limits. The maximum speed limit shown will be lower when it is windy. This will allow traffic to still use the bridge even during strong winds.

The signs will display a maximum driver speed limit of 60mph for winds speeds of up to 45mph, or a 40mph driver speed limit if wind speeds of between 45mph to 60mph are forecast. The bridge will be closed if wind speeds of 60mph or above predicted due to the safety risk to motorists.

There will also be speed cameras installed on the bridge to enforce the maximum speed limits displayed on the electronic speed signs.

Once complete, Orwell Bridge will be able to remain open to drivers more often during storms, and that will mean less congestion in town due to bridge closures.

To safely install these new signs and cameras, we will need to close the bridge to traffic or have reduced traffic lanes open over the bridge at key stages during our roadworks. The work will take seven weeks, subject to weather conditions.

We only close the bridge for safety reasons when it is essential, and for as short a time as possible. However, we recognise that closing the bridge causes disruption to the town.

A year-long study was made on the aerodynamic properties of the Orwell Bridge, to identify potential steps that we can take to keep the Orwell Bridge open to traffic during high winds. The report was carried out on our behalf by City University of London and they used the latest computer technology designed to test vehicle stability specifically on the Orwell Bridge. The bridge was split into 15 million ‘cells’ for the study and 36,000 tests were run. They assessed the accident risks for different types of vehicles and wind directions.

The aerodynamic study concluded that the current wind limit of 60mph for closing the bridge is correct for safety, but that reducing the traffic speed limit down from 60mph during high winds means that the bridge can remain safely open when the wind is at certain speeds.

The findings were theoretical and needed to be validated using a wind tunnel. Wind tunnel testing was carried out during 2020. These tests mean that we now understand better how winds of different speeds and directions can affect the safety of traffic on the bridge. You can read about the study.

A road safety audit was also carried out to confirm that the new signs do not pose any safety issues.

Safety is our number one priority. Like other high bridges around the country, the safety of road users on Orwell Bridge can be affected by high winds. The bridge is closed to all traffic if there are gusts of wind of 50mph or more in certain directions, or gusts of 60mph or higher, regardless of wind direction. This is in line with best practice, and is based on studies of lorries overturning in strong winds.

Decisions to close the bridge are based on Met Office forecasts. This allows us to inform road users in advance of any potential closures, and reduce the impact of traffic on the diversion route through Ipswich.

In recent years we’ve already made some changes so that closures can be both implemented and removed within a 20-minute period, and we’ve introduced a new protocol for making and communicating decisions about the bridge closures to give road users more time to make decisions about their journeys.

We’ve since commissioned new ground-breaking studies which show that we can let traffic use the bridge even during certain strong wind speeds if the speed limit is reduced.

We are now about to install the new signs that will allow the speed limits to be changed according to the wind speed.