Spanning nearly 1,300 metres (4,265 feet), propped on concrete pillars and framing a view which inspired George Orwell's pen name, it has become known as the gateway to East Anglia.

But when the Orwell Bridge, which carries the A14 east to west on the outskirts of Ipswich, grinds to a halt, that gateway slams shut, bringing gridlock to an entire town and slowing down the rest of Suffolk.

It is a problem which has plagued this key route for Felixstowe, Britain's largest container port, for more than 40 years.

The latest closure came on Friday after a fatal incident, with the disruption trending on social media and becoming one of the most searched topics in the UK on Google. So how does one bridge have such an impact and how do you fix it?

Opened to traffic in 1982, the bridge takes the key A14 road over the River Orwell estuary to Felixstowe.

The Port of Felixstowe handles nearly 50% of Britain's container traffic, making this one of the country's most important haulage routes.

This stretch of road also intersects with the A12 - the main route in and out of neighbouring Essex to the south, and, to the north, connecting to the rest of the Suffolk coast including tourist hotspots such as Aldeburgh, Southwold and Lowestoft.

Although classed as a town, Ipswich is home to nearly 140,000 people and is the county's main population centre.

The bridge is regularly forced to close as accidents bring it to a standstill. Strong winds, which pose a threat to high-sided vehicles, can also cause its closure.

It is maintained by National Highways, but transport strategy and planning is the remit of Suffolk County Council.

When it closes, the only options for drivers are to divert through the centre of Ipswich - which has no complete ring road and few two-lane main roads - or take a detour much further north.

As one poster on the social media site X commented: "Some sort of solution needs to be found for this nonsense, because the whole of Ipswich becomes gridlocked."

Paul Simon, from the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, extended sympathies to the family of the man who died on the bridge, but he said generally the continued delays and disruption were "deeply concerning".

"It is a stark reminder that it is well beyond time that a programme of funded improvements to the road's capacity in and around Ipswich is rolled out," he said.

The chamber recently conducted research that showed 81% of businesses in the area were concerned that the closures had an impact on their operations. Many said it could affect investment plans and have a negative effect on jobs.

Simon said both short-term fixes, including lower speed limits and more help to clear accidents, and long-term options, like infrastructure investment, were needed.

It is a view echoed by people living and working in the town.

Funeral director Liam Roberts travelled into Ipswich from Sudbury on Friday. The journey, which does not involve the A14, would normally take no more than 45 minutes — instead it took more than two hours and he arrived at work at 09:10.

"It makes me feel a little bit anxious. My business is here and there are things to do," he said.

"It affected my staff as well, so there was a bit of a domino effect."

James Rush, who lives in Ipswich, chose to walk in rather than drive into the town centre.

"It kind of sums up the town a little bit that when one bridge closes people can't get anywhere or do anything," he said.

"We keep hearing about a Northern Bypass, but I think we're all going to die before that's ever built."

She said anyone who has lived in Ipswich for more than two decades will tell you a bypass or another bridge is needed.

Successive political parties have promised solutions, but not one of them has delivered, she added.

"The closest it came was in 2016 when the Conservative government under David Cameron pledged £77m to build a third crossing north of the current Orwell Bridge and closer to the town," she said.

"Just two years later and after £8m was spent on feasibility studies, the project was scrapped as the council could not find the additional £40m it needed to get the bridge built."

The issue of high winds closing the bridge when they exceeded 50mph (80km/h), was mainly resolved in 2020 when speed limits and variable speed signs were introduced.

But a review by the then Conservative-led Suffolk County Council ruled out plans for a northern bypass.

"At the time the council said it was due to a lack of political support for more housing to make the business case viable," Irwin said.

Fast forward to 2025 and no new options have been considered, she explained.

The current Labour MP for Ipswich, Jack Abbott, called on the council to revisit a bypass plan, while the new Conservative MP for North Ipswich & Central Suffolk, Patrick Spencer, came out opposing any bypass that would go through his constituency.

Now Reform UK runs the county council and the party has committed to another investigation into the options. It has not ruled out the bypass, but also wants to consider another bridge or even a tunnel.

Christopher Hudson, the council's cabinet member for transport and highways, said residents deserved a solution "to what is a nightmare".

The authority is exploring alternatives as part of its Pre-Strategic Outline Business Case (PSOBC).

If approved by cabinet, the case would see the council refresh its research and data around what can be done to solve the issue, presenting its findings by spring 2027.

However, these could then take 10 years or more to realise.

"I want to say, without passing the buck, it is not a nightmare made by the county council," he said.

"Yes, they [the public] deserve a solution. No, we haven't got the money to give them the solution.

"There are many things to consider. There are no easy, quick, silver bullets to this one.

"We're very, very sorry. But to a certain extent, it is beyond the control of the county. It's a problem made in Westminster."

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