Ipswich is the county town of Suffolk, England. It is a medieval port and industrial town with a strong transport history; the urban area has a population of 122,000 and currently offers urban transport services for cars, cycles and buses. In addition there are 3 railway stations and regional coach services. London Stansted Airport is accessible by the airlink coach.
Urban transport
Urban transport within Ipswich is primarily based on the local road network based both on the historical street pattern and on newer roads. The town centre has been pedestrianised and there are a number of parks, footpaths and cycle routes. A small number of the paths have been identified as rights of way.
Car There are approximately 5,800 public off-street public parking places available in the town centre.See 'Public car parks in Ipswich' section on talk page There are two park and ride sites in Ipswich; London Road (A14 Junction 55 / A12) and Martlesham (A12/A1214 road). Park and ride buses run every 10 minutes from 7am till 7pm Monday to Saturday. Some residential areas close to the town centre are covered by residents parking zones where general parking is not permitted.
A number of car rental companies operate within the town including Alamo Rent a Car, Avis, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Europcar, Hertz, John Grose car rental and National Car Rental. A car club operates in the town with 2 cars available in Grange Farm
Rail Derby Road railway station is a suburban railway station that offers local services, situated just east of Ipswich town centre.
Bus
Services are provided by Ipswich Buses (who run most of the town services), and by First Eastern Counties, Carters Coach Services, Beestons and Galloway European who serve a wider area.
Town services mainly operate from Tower Ramparts bus station and regional services from the Ipswich Old Cattle Market bus station with services to locations such as Diss, Aldeburgh, Felixstowe, Colchester, Sudbury and Stowmarket.
Route number 66 is a partially guided busway, operated by First Eastern Counties, serves Martlesham Heath and Kesgrave from the town and the railway station.
Cycling
Ipswich is a small town which is well suited to cycling and the council has been investing significant sums of money in recent years to improve the facilities. There is a network of (partially) signed cycle routes and many other suitable routes. Grange Farm has some excellent tracks and the local school, Kesgrave High School has one of the highest percentages of pupils cycling to school in the country. There is cycle storage available at all stations and there can be carried on all trains but space is sometimes limited (see Rail section below for details). BMX bikes can use the Ipswich BMX Track in Landseer Park and also the Ipswich Skate Park.
Regional Cycle Route 41 and Regional Cycle Route 42 serve the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. National Cycle Route 1 (from Dover to Scotland) and National Cycle Route 51 (Colchester via Harwich and Felixstowe to Oxford) pass through Ipswich. Ipswich is also on the North Sea Cycle Route. Cycle Ipswich, CTC Suffolk and Sustrans are all active in the town to promote more cycling and better facilities.
Rights of way
Ipswich has a number of large parks including Christchurch Park, Holywells Park, Landseer Park, Gippswick Park and Bourne Park all with good footpaths; the cemetery also forms a useful pedestrian route and destination. Grange Farm in Kesgrave in the outskirts of Ipswich is built round a network spine of cycle and footpaths. The Maidenhall area of Ipswich is also built round a central spine of footpaths. Kesgrave High School is accessible from the network via a pedestrian subway under the main road.
In 2009 the county council published a Definitive Map showing 21 footpaths with associated public orders, the county recognises that this list is 'far from complete' and is working with other agencies to include further routes as information becomes available.
The requirement to produce a Definitive Map dates back to 1983 as outlined the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 however they note that no timescale was set down for when work should start or be completed; a first draft of which took 25 years in this case.
Longer distance transport
Car The A12 links Ipswich to London (), Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth and the M25. The A14 links the town with Cambridge (), the Midlands and Felixstowe. The A140 (single carriageway) links the town with Norwich.
Rail Ipswich railway station is () from the town centre. The station serves trains to Cambridge, Felixstowe, London Liverpool Street, Lowestoft, Norwich and Peterborough; it also serves other stations located on the Great Eastern Main Line, East Suffolk Line, Ipswich to Ely Line and Felixstowe Branch Line. Derby Road station serves Felixstowe, Trimley and Ipswich; Westerfield station serves stations on the East Suffolk Line to Lowestoft.
All three stations have step-free access, following the installation of lifts at Ipswich station in 2011. There are cycle storage facilities available at all stations. It is also possible to take bicycles on trains on all services; trains to London have ample storage in the guards van which is located at the back of the train for services to London and at the front on the return. Other train services have limited cycle capacity, about 4 bicycles per train for Cambridge and the Felixstowe services on the East Suffolk Line. At certain times these can be fully used, there are particular overcrowding problems on the East Suffolk Line in good weather where cyclists are often refused access on safety grounds.
Train services are operated by Greater Anglia. The fastest service into London Liverpool Street currently has a journey time of one hour and 10 minutes.
Coach A number of nearby towns and villages can be accessed by Bus. For longer journeys National Express operate the 481 service to London Victoria Coach Station, the 250 to Stansted Airport and Heathrow Airport and the 305 service to Cambridge, Northampton, Birmingham and eventually to Liverpool. These services depart from Cardinal Park in Ipswich, most also serve the railway station.
Air Between 1930 and 1996 there was a small airport within Ipswich (see history section below). The nearest international flights are from Stansted Airport and Norwich Airport, both approximately away. National Express operate coaches to Stansted and Heathrow. Stansted Airport can alternatively be reached by changing trains at Cambridge. Heathrow Airport can be reached by London Underground from Liverpool Street.
Shipping The Port of Ipswich, operated by Associated British Ports offers a mix of facilities for handling containers, timber, dry bulk cargo oil as well as a Ro-Ro terminal. It is one of the Haven ports along with the Port of Felixstowe and Harwich International.
Planning Suffolk County Council is the transport authority and as such is in charge of transport policy and have published a Suffolk Local Transport Plan for the period 2006–2011 which outlines the transport plans for the town and the rest of the county. They also publish an Ipswich Transport Strategy which provides more detailed information for the town. These documents are prepared in consultation with the borough council and with various other organisations and interest groups.
Ipswich Borough council is the planning authority and is required to publish a Local Development Framework (LDF) which outlines plans for the development of the town which necessarily includes some transport elements. A new LDF is currently in preparation. Ipswich Borough Council is also a 'delivery agent' for aspects of transport policy and often oversees the implementation of new transport schemes on the ground.
Ipswich is in the East of England and transport policy needs to be 'broadly compliant' with the transport section of the Regional Spatial Strategy which is produced by the East of England Regional Assembly. It outlines the overall issues and plans for the region. It is a legal requirement for county and borough plans to be 'broad compliance' with the regional strategy.
History
Early history A Roman road originally known as Pye Road and part of which is now the A140, linked Colchester with Caistor St. Edmund near Norwich. By the Middle Ages wool was being exported from Ipswich by ship and by the 13th century there was a thriving shipbuilding industry. The wool trade boomed in the 16th century before declining in the 17th century.
The first known map of the town is dated 1539 which was created when Henry VIII feared invasion from France and Spain.Twinch (2008), page 37 John Speed then published an atlas in 1611, 'The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine', which included a map of Ipswich and John Ogilby's 1675 'Britannia' Atlas map showed a three routes from Ipswich:- Colchester, Ipswich, Saxmundham, Beccles, Yarmouth Huntingdon, Ely, Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich Ipswich, Thwaite, Norwich, Cromer
The Highways Act 1555 (and subsequent Highways Act 1562) placed responsibility of road maintenance on the local parishes. The first turnpike trust in Suffolk was established in 1741 to improve the road from Ipswich to Scole via Claydon. An old milestone in Ipswich shows London as and Gt Yarmouth north. A daily coaching service to London operated at this time, but was expensive at 3d per mile according to Daniel Defoe and the journey took 10 hours in 1762.Twinch (2008), page 81 A map from 1766 shows the predecessor of the A12 road passing through Rumford (Romford), Burntwood (Brentwood), Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich, Woodbridge, Beckles and finally to Great Yarmouth. The 'Ipswich to South Town and Bungay Turnpike' turnpike trust was established in 1785, operating between Ipswich and Great Yarmouth. By 1800 Ipswich was a prosperous town with a population of 11,000 and an Act of Parliament titled 'Ipswich Paving Act 1793' formed a body of men called the Paving Commissioners who were responsible for 'paving, lighting, cleansing, and otherwise improving the Town of Ipswich'. Street name plates had started to be used in 1778.Twinch (2008), page 87
John Kirby reported in 1732 that the trade in the town had recently reduced and that there had been 20 ships a year built in the town and having seen over 200 ships belonging to the town in the port during the winter.Twinch (2008), page 80 Pennington produced a map of the town in 1778.
The first abortive proposals to make the River Orwell navigable as far as Stowmarket were raised in 1719 but were dropped after objections from the Ipswich Corporation. Further plans were raised in 1790 and the work was completed by 1793 after which numerous maltings were soon operating in Stowmarket. The cost of the work on what was sometimes referred to as the 'Stowmarket Canal' was £26,380.
The Ipswich Steam Navigation Company was formed in 1824/1825 during a period of 'steamship mania'. It started a steamer service between Ipswich and London calling at Walton on the Naze
Victorian expansion The Ipswich wet dock was dug in 1842 to accommodate booming commercial coastal trade. The first railway station opened in Ipswich in 1846 providing services to Colchester and London using the Great Eastern Main Line and to Bury St Edmunds using the Ipswich to Ely Line. Services to Norwich started in 1849, to Cambridge in 1851 and in 1859 the East Suffolk Line provided services as far as Great Yarmouth. The station moved to its current location in 1860. The Highway Act 1835 had introduced legislation placed the responsibility of maintenance of roads with the parish surveyor (and also introduced a number of 'rules of the road' such as riding on the left). The Ipswich to South Town and Bungay Turnpike trust was wound up in 1872 following the arrival of the railway. The new county councils took over responsibility for roads and bridges in 1889 following the Local Government Act 1888.