Plans to install the lights on the A14's slip roads have left motorists confused about when they will be allowed direct access to the road and the implications it could have on traffic throughout the town centre.

The project has been trialled in other towns around the country with varying success – in some places cutting journey times by 10 minutes.

Caroline Hirst of Havelock Street, Kettering, said: "It does seem like an odd decision to only allow access to a road part of the time.

"Surely this will just push cars into the town centre and defeats the point of having the road as a bypass.

"This system of slip roads works all across the world without too much of a problem so it seems totally ridiculous to change it.

"Surely it is likely to cause more accidents because people will be joining dual carriageway traffic at 70mph from a standstill."

The proposed scheme is one of four to help ease congestion in the north of the county in a bid to deal with the extra 52,100 homes which will be built by 2021.

If the project is approved it will be funded by a share of £200m of Government cash from the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department of Transport, as reported in the Evening Telegraph yesterday.

Kettering lorry driver Gregg Adams said: "I know there are a lot of accidents on this road but I think the solution is lowering the speed limit. Putting traffic lights on slip roads will just make more people likely to go through the town centre and put more lives at risk.

"Why not create a third lane so drivers aren't forced to duck into oncoming vehicles when they get on to the road?"

Motorcyclist Jason Thomas of Rothwell Road, Kettering said: "I think people will just avoid the areas at the times when the lights are working."


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