Martin Fellows, regional director of National Highways in the East of England, said the works had been planned “carefully” and in a manner that would cause “minimal disruption”.

He said he did recognise the “significant congestion” it had already caused, but he stressed the work was “essential”.

“It’s never easy, but we do carefully monitor exactly how much traffic is going to result,” he said.

“We do recognise the impact yesterday and it will continue over the weeks while the scheme takes place.

“What we would ask people is to be patient.

“We’d also ask that they stay on the A14.

“The reason we’ve installed contraflow – which means we can work on one side of the carriageway, but allow the traffic to travel on the other side of the carriageway, albeit only one lane in each direction – is to ensure that the traffic does stay on the A14 as best as possible.”

Mr Fellows said he expected disruption to continue this week before it potentially eases as people planned ahead and got used to the works.