A public consultation is due to end on plans to change a stretch of the new A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon into a motorway.

Highways England announced in September that it was applying for an 18-mile section of the A14 to be classified as a motorway once upgraded work is completed.

The move will create an unbroken motorway link between London and Peterborough, which Highways England hope will increase safety and improve journeys by encouraging Huntingdonshire based drives and long-distance traffic onto the suitable routes.

Highways England is half way through the £1.5bn project to improve 21 miles of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon – the biggest road upgrade currently in the UK.

Highways England have now formally asked the Planning Inspectorate to amend the road’s status from trunk road to motorway, with the Secretary of State for Transport making the final decision.

Highways England project director, David Bray said that the upgrade will make the road as safe as possible.

He said: “We want the A14 upgrade to be the safest and best road it can possibly be, and we now have an opportunity to make our already robust plans even better by putting the right traffic onto the right roads when the new A14 opens to traffic.

“We want the A14 upgrade to be the safest and best road it can possibly be, and we now have an opportunity to make our already robust plans even better by putting the right traffic onto the right roads when the new A14 opens to traffic.”

If the change is given the go ahead, motorway status will also be extended to a three-mile section of the A1 from Alconbury to Brampton, which will be re-named as A1(M).

The consultation is due to end on January 28.

A full application view a copy at St Ives Library, Huntingdon Library, Buckden Library and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority offices at Alconbury. You can also view it on the Planning Inspectorate’s website.