A public consultation on the A14 upgrade will start next month.

The Highways Agency will publish a Statement of Community Consultation (SoCC) on the £1.5billion improvement scheme before the end of March which will explain when and how the 10-week consultation will take place.

A preferred route, for the new road between Huntingdon and Cambridge, will be announced in the summer before a Development Consent Order application is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in the autumn.

Ian Parker, of the Highways Agency’s A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon project team, said: “Last year’s consultation into options for the A14 scheme resulted in a huge amount of interest and a large public response. At the time, charging a toll to use the road was one of the issues we consulted on and many of the responses we received focussed on that aspect of the proposals.

“The Government has listened to the views of the public, local businesses, local authorities and Members of Parliament on this issue and in December 2013 it was confirmed that the A14 would not be tolled. We now want to give people the chance to provide their detailed views on the Proposed Scheme – now un-tolled – before we make a formal announcement on the preferred route.”