The A14 is one of the UK's busiest non-motorway roads. It runs from the M1 & M6 junction at Catthorpe to the Port of Felixstowe, the UK's busiest container port. Linking several major roads along the way and carrying port traffic, the A14 has a very high percentage of HGVs. West of Junction 1, there is an HGV overtaking ban in force for two miles between 8am and 6pm.
The A14 between the M1 and A1 was built between 1989 and 1991. Between Thrapston (junction 13) and Brampton Hut (Junction 21) the existing A604 was upgraded to dual carriageway on-line with bypasses for all of the villages along the route. West of Thrapston, an entirely new route was constructed to meet the Catthorpe Interchange with the M1 and M6, including a bypass for the town of Kettering.
The route number A14 was chosen for the new route. What was previously numbered as the A14 was downgraded to the A1198 (running between Royston and Huntingdon).
From the gently rolling landscape of Northamptonshire, the A14 enters Cambridgeshire and reaches the edge of The Fens - where the land is very low lying and very flat.