The overnight closure on the A14 near Ipswich earlier this week was caused by an "unforeseen" bridge fracture. 

One lane on the westbound carriageway between junction 54 and 53 was closed on Wednesday afternoon. 

National Highways then closed the rest of the road at 9pm that evening to allow for emergency repairs to be carried out.

Drivers were advised to change travel plans and allow more time for journeys. 

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A spokeswoman for National Highways said the authority received several "noise" complaints from locals living around the area which prompted an engineer to visit the bridge. 

The spokeswoman said: "On visiting the structure, it was found that the westbound east EMR Maurer steel rails had fractured at the welded connections within the kerb channel between lanes one and two.

"Due to this being a public safety issue, National Highways called the control room and had a lane one closure installed immediately to prevent any potential public injury.

"Following this call, the ROC requested that our contractors get the section of the EMR joint cut out and a temporary 'make-safe' was completed to allow National Highways to open the A14 westbound carriageway back up.

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"This was an unforeseen bridge expansion joint issue which we could not predict occurring."

The work on the bridge was completed between 10.20pm on Wednesday and 4am on Thursday.

National Highways removed the carriageway closure at 5am.