Suffolk
Suffolk | |||
Location Map ( geo) | |||
| |||
Primary Destinations | |||
Beccles • Bury St Edmunds • Felixstowe • Ipswich • Lowestoft • Newmarket • Sudbury | |||
Other Important Destinations | |||
Bungay • Haverhill | |||
Current Highway Authorities | |||
Norfolk County Council • Suffolk County Council | |||
Borders | |||
Cambridgeshire • Essex • Norfolk | |||
National Highways Roads | |||
A11 • A12 • A14 • A47 | |||
Suffolk is a traditional county in East Anglia. From 1888 to 1974 it was split into two administrative counties, with West Suffolk administered from Bury St Edmunds and East Suffolk from the county town of Ipswich.
Geography & Economy
The county borders are fairly obvious, running west-east from the Fens to the North Sea and north-south from the Rivers Waveney and Little Ouse to the River Stour. The majority of the county is low-lying, with gently rolling hills in the west. The coast is remarkably unstable: in the past thousand years the town of Dunwich has been eroded into a small village whilst Orford Ness has grown to cut off Orford itself from the sea. Most of Suffolk is rural, with agriculture an important industry. Newmarket in the west is a centre for horse-racing. Felixstowe is the county's largest container port whilst Lowestoft remains a fishing port; both towns are also seaside resorts. However, much of the coastal area is a nature reserve. The sugar factory of Bury St Edmunds is clearly visible from the A14. In the north the county merges into the Broads. Other tourist attractions include Sutton Hoo and Framlingham Castle.
Roads
Suffolk's road network is reasonably comprehensive but suffers due to the county's oblong shape and distances between centres of population. In many parts of the county Class II roads are more widespread than Class I. Owing to the river estuaries in the east there are few roads towards the sea; most roads serving the coast are dead ends. National Highways maintain the county's major artery, the east-west A14; this was numbered A45 until the 1990s but now has its distinctive number to form a through route between the motorways of the Midlands and the port of Felixstowe. The other trunk roads are the A11, which briefly enters Suffolk in the west; the A12 south of Ipswich and the A47 north of Lowestoft; the latter was numbered A12 until 2017. The A12 "coast" road is perhaps the county's most important non-trunk road. Most non-trunk roads within the county are maintained by Suffolk County Council, although the far northeast is maintained by Norfolk County Council.
Construction of the three sides of the Ipswich bypass altered the road network around the town considerably. As well as giving rise to the bridge over the River Orwell it has also left a long stretch of unclassified dual carriageway through Copdock, being a bypassed section of A12. However, there is no bypass to the north of Ipswich so traffic wanting to head that way either faces a detour or a road of worse quality. Bury St Edmunds claims the country's oldest internally illuminated road sign, dating to the 1930s, known as the Pillar of Salt.
Route | From | To | Length |
|
---|---|---|---|---|
A11 | London | Norwich | 61.8 miles | View |
A12 | London | Lowestoft | 129 miles | View |
A14 | Catthorpe | Felixstowe | 137 miles | View |
A47 | Birmingham | Lowestoft | 157.9 miles | View |
A131 | Chelmsford Bypass | Sudbury | 31.8 miles | View |
A132 | Colchester | Godmanchester | 57.3 miles | View |
A134 | Tottenhill | Colchester | 71.3 miles | View |
A137 | Ipswich | Colchester | 18.4 miles | View |
A138 | Ipswich | Shotley Gate | 8.5 miles | View |
A139 | Ipswich | Felixstowe | 13.4 miles | View |
A140 | Needham Market | Crossdale Street | 56.1 miles | View |
A142 | Newmarket | Chatteris | 25.9 miles | View |
A143 | Great Yarmouth | Haverhill | 74.9 miles | View |
A144 | Darsham | Bungay | 14.1 miles | View |
A145 | North Cove | Blythburgh | 10.3 miles | View |
A146 | Norwich | Oulton Broad | 24.4 miles | View |
A154 | Trimley | Felixstowe Docks | 4.5 miles | View |
A604 | Barton Seagrave | Parkeston Quay, Harwich | 85 miles | View |
A1017 | High Garrett | Haverhill 'Spirit of Enterprise' Roundabout | 18.2 miles | View |
A1021 | Old Felixstowe | Felixstowe | 1.3 miles | View |
A1022 | St Matthew's Street | Slade Street | 0.8 miles | View |
A1022 | Crown Street | Abbeygate Street | 0.4 miles | View |
A1026 | 0.5 miles | View | ||
A1065 | Mildenhall | Fakenham Bypass | 39.1 miles | View |
A1071 | Newton, Sudbury | Rushmere Heath, Ipswich | 18.9 miles | View |
A1088 | Thetford | Woolpit | 15.1 miles | View |
A1092 | Baythorne End | Long Melford (N) | 10.5 miles | View |
A1093 | Martlesham | Kirton | 5.2 miles | View |
A1094 | Friday Street | Aldeburgh | 7.0 miles | View |
A1095 | Blythburgh | Southwold | 4.0 miles | View |
A1100 | Copdock | Great Blakenham | 5.6 miles | View |
A1101 | Long Sutton bypass | Bury St Edmunds | 53.4 miles | View |
A1114 | Handford Bridge, Ipswich | Priory Heath | 5.0 miles | View |
A1116 | Beccles | Bungay | 5.7 miles | View |
A1117 | Pakefield (W) | Foxburrow Hill, Oulton | 4.0 miles | View |
A1118 | Kirkley | Lowestoft | 1.0 mile | View |
A1120 | Stowmarket | Yoxford | 26.0 miles | View |
A1141 | Hadleigh Bypass | Bradfield Combust | 13.6 miles | View |
A1142 | Cornhill | Northgate Street | 0.2 miles | View |
A1143 | Ballygate | Blyburgate | 0.4 miles | View |
A1144 | Normanston | Lowestoft | 1.1 miles | View |
A1145 | Carlton Colville | Pakefield | 1.3 miles | View |
A1152 | Woodbridge Bypass | Rendlesham | 5.7 miles | View |
A1154 | Harfreys Roundabout | South Denes Road | 0.59 miles | View |
A1156 | Whitehouse | Seven Hills | 8.2 miles | View |
A1189 | Rushmere Heath, Ipswich | Nacton Heath, Ipswich | 2.9 miles | View |
A1214 | Copdock | Martlesham | 8.7 miles | View |
A1243 | Southtown | South Denes | 2.5 miles | View |
A1302 | Westley | Southgate Green | 2.9 miles | View |
A1304 | Six Mile Bottom | Water Hall | 9.4 miles | View |
A1307 | Alconbury | Haverhill | 44 miles | View |
A1308 | Tot Hill | Combs Ford | 2.7 miles | View |
A1358 | Stowmarket | Combs Ford | View | |
B1029 | Stratford St Mary | Brightlingsea | 14.4 miles | View |
B1057 | Great Dunmow | Haverhill | 16.7 miles | View |
B1059 | Colchester | Sudbury | 13.5 miles | View |
B1059 | Upper Orwell Street | Felixstowe Road | 1.4 miles | View |
B1060 | Haverhill | Bury St Edmunds | 17.8 miles | View |
B1061 | Sturmer | Newmarket | 13.9 miles | View |
B1062 | Homersfield | Beccles | 11.3 miles | View |
B1062 | Baythorne End | Long Melford | 10.1 miles | View |
B1063 | Newmarket | Clare | 16.2 miles | View |
B1064 | Sudbury (N) | Long Melford | 2.3 miles | View |
B1065 | Glemsford (S) | Stanstead (SW) | 2.2 miles | View |
B1066 | Long Melford | Horringer | 11.6 miles | View |
B1067 | Bramford | Ipswich | 2.9 miles | View |
B1067 | Risbygate Street | Out Northgate | 0.5 miles | View |
B1068 | Leavenheath | East Bergholt(W) | 7.7 miles | View |
B1069 | Leiston | Rendlesham | 9.4 miles | View |
B1069 | Newton | Ipswich | 16.3 miles | View |
B1070 | Hadleigh | Cattawade | 9.5 miles | View |
B1071 | Little Waldingfield(W) | Lavenham | 2.9 miles | View |
B1072 | Little Waldingfield(W) | Bildeston | 6.3 miles | View |
B1073 | Bridge Street | Ipswich Railway Station | 0.4 miles | View |
B1073 | Semer | Stowmarket | 11.4 miles | View |
B1074 | Lowestoft | St Olaves | 8.0 miles | View |
B1074 | Copdock | Great Blakenham | 5.6 miles | View |
B1075 | London Road, Ipswich | Felixstowe Road, Ipswich | 3.2 miles | View |
B1076 | Dogs Head Street / Tacket Street | St Margaret's Street | 0.25 miles | View |
B1077 | Ipswich | Carbrooke Hall | 46.2 miles | View |
B1078 | Bildeston | Tunstall Forest | 31.2 miles | View |
B1079 | Woodbridge | Helmingham | 9.0 miles | View |
B1080 | Brantham | Freston | 5.4 miles | View |
B1080 | Martlesham | Kirton | 5.2 miles | View |
B1081 | High Road West | Orwell Road | 0.6 miles | View |
B1082 | Hamilton Road | Garrison Lane | 0.8 miles | View |
B1083 | Wilford Bridge | Bawdsey | 7.8 miles | View |
B1084 | Bromeswell | Orford | 9.2 miles | View |
B1085 | Fordham | Lidgate | 12.2 miles | View |
B1087 | Nayland | Stoke-by-Nayland | 2.1 miles | View |
B1101 | Bury St Edmunds | Outwell | 39.2 miles | View |
B1102 | Stow Cum Quy | Mildenhall | 17.3 miles | View |
B1103 | Burwell | Newmarket | 4.4 miles | View |
B1106 | Brandon | Bury St Edmunds | 19.5 miles | View |
B1107 | Thetford Bypass | Brandon | 4.9 miles | View |
B1111 | Stanton | Stow Bedon (SW) | 16.2 miles | View |
B1112 | Whittington | Icklingham | 20.9 miles | View |
B1112 | Woolpit | Thetford | 14.6 miles | View |
B1113 | Sproughton | Harford Bridge, Norwich | 50.8 miles | View |
B1114 | Stowmarket | Ashfield Place | 12.4 miles | View |
B1115 | Sudbury | Stowupland | 23.5 miles | View |
B1116 | Wickham Market | Harleston | 19.4 miles | View |
B1117 | Thornham Parva | Halesworth | 21.0 miles | View |
B1118 | Dennington | Scole | 12.2 miles | View |
B1119 | Saxtead Green | Leiston | 13.5 miles | View |
B1120 | Framlingham | Badingham | 2.8 miles | View |
B1121 | Dorley's Corner | Friston | 5.2 miles | View |
B1122 | Yoxford | Aldeburgh | 9.3 miles | View |
B1123 | Harleston (S) | Blythburgh (N) | 15.5 miles | View |
B1124 | Holten | Brampton | 3.8 miles | View |
B1125 | Theberton | Blythburgh | 5.8 miles | View |
B1125 | Blythburgh | Brampton | 3.7 miles | View |
B1126 | Wangford | Southwold | 2.8 miles | View |
B1127 | Southwold | Ellough Airfield | 9.3 miles | View |
B1128 | The Walk | Beccles Station | 0.2 miles | View |
B1129 | Oulton Broad | Rackham's Corner, Blundeston | 3.4 miles | View |
B1130 | Oulton Broad | Lowestoft | 1.9 miles | View |
B1353 | Coldfair Green | Thorpeness | 2.3 miles | View |
B1353 | Farnham | Friston | 3.1 miles | View |
B1370 | Lowestoft Road | Beccles Road | 1.4 miles | View |
B1375 | Oulton Broad North | Blundeston(E) | 2.7 miles | View |
B1383 | Ballygate | Blyburgate | 0.4 miles | View |
B1384 | Bloodmoor Hill | Pakefield | 0.7 miles | View |
B1385 | Lowestoft | Corton (W) | 2.3 miles | View |
B1387 | Blythburgh(S) | Walberswick (Ferry) | 3.6 miles | View |
B1435 | Hillside Road West | Hillside Road East | 1.7 miles | View |
B1437 | Kessingland (N) | Kessingland Beach | 2.7 miles | View |
B1438 | Woodbridge bypass (SW) | Wickham Market | 7.2 miles | View |
B1456 | Maidenhall | Shotley Gate | 9.3 miles | View |
B1458 | Fore Street | Ipswich Docks | 0.6 miles | View |
B1506 | Newmarket (NE) | Kentford | 4.6 miles | View |
B1508 | Colchester | Sudbury | 13.5 miles | View |
B1531 | Oulton Broad | Lowestoft | 1.3 miles | View |
B1532 | Pakefield(S) | Lowestoft | 2.0 miles | View |
T2 | London | Norwich | View | |
T3 | London | Great Yarmouth | View | |
T45 | Ipswich | Weedon | View |
Key
Turnpikes
Junctions
Bridges, Tunnels, and other Crossings