A14 Road (England) - A14 Spur Designation, Including 'A1(M)', 'A14(M)', 'A604(M)'

A14 Spur Designation, Including 'A1(M)', 'A14(M)', 'A604(M)'

From the A12 west of Ipswich to the M1/M6 junction, the A14 is part of (but not signed as) the E-road E 24. The remainder from Ipswich to Felixstowe is part of E 30. The numbering of the A14 is inconsistent with the national road numbering scheme, as it begins in zone 5 and crosses through zone 6 on the way to zone 1 east of Huntingdon to Felixstowe. The road is concurrent with the A12 road from the Seven Hills Interchange to the Copdock Interchange which forms the Ipswich Southern bypass and with the A11 road between junctions 36 and 38.

The final 1.2 mile section of the A14 'spur' from the junction with the B1043 near Huntingdon to the A1(M) at Alconbury has many inconsistent designations. It is the only section of the original A14 (A1198 road) road that still bears that A14 designation; it was however renumbered as the A604 for a period of time prior to the construction of the current A14. The scheme page on the Highways Agency website for the 'A1(M) Alconbury to Peterborough' scheme carried out in 1996-1998 refers to it as the A14(M), but the map page linked from that page marks the same section of road as the A604(M). The statutory instrument for the construction of the road in 1993 also refers to it as the A604(M). Neither the A14(M) nor the A604(M) designation is used on the ground however; when heading north onto the A1(M) heading north there a bare 'motorway' sign just past the B1043 exit without any number of on (see photo in the top right of this page). However, when heading south along the A1 it is signed as 'A14'. Online mapping is also inconsistent - the Highway Agency mapping (which uses Navteq data) refers to it as the 'A14(M)', Bing maps (which also uses Navteq mapping) shows it as motorway without any designation and Yahoo maps (which uses Navteq data) shows it as motorway and as the A1(M). Google maps (which uses TeleAtlas data) shows it as a trunk road called A14.

East of the Girton Interchange with the M11 at Cambridge, the A14 used to be known as the A45, and much of the long-distance traffic further west had previously used the A45 route. The section between Cambridge and Kettering used to be the A604 apart from a short section near Kettering that used to be part of the A6. The road which was known as the A14 until the late 1980s is now the A1198 between Royston, Hertfordshire and Godmanchester but, confusingly, retains its A14 designation north of Godmanchester until it meets the A1 road near Alconbury; thus forming a 'spur' off the main A14.