1st November 2024 - Jack Abbott MP discusses Orwell Bridge traffic chaos

Jack Abbott MP and James Cartlidge MP, with the Orwell Bridge in the background

On 1st November 2024, I joined a meeting in Suffolk Food Hall with other Suffolk MPs, local businesses, National Highways, the Police and others to discuss the Orwell Bridge. Orwell Bridge closures are a blight on Ipswich and the surrounding area, and we have suffered fresh chaos in recent weeks.

A number of major issues are on the horizon, with more repair work planned, and the only viable way to tackle them is with a proactive cross-party, multi-agency focus. As well as carrying out crucial works to the Orwell Bridge - and finding other mitigations to ease problems - it also means pursuing a deliverable alternative route.

This meeting was therefore an important start, and hopefully a prelude to further action.

Ipswich residents and businesses can’t afford for this issue to be kicked into the long grass any longer.