A-road
A131 traffic and collisions
The A131 is an A-road of 29.4 miles, from Essex to Suffolk. This page covers its traffic at 19 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 188m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 17,532 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 28,612 A1016 to A131
- HGV share 3.7% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 +9.8% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 152 21.5 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A131?
On an average day in 2025, 17,532 vehicles passed each point on the A131, counting both directions. The busiest section is A1016 to A131 (Essex), with 28,612 a day; the quietest listed is Churchill Avenue to Middleton Rd, with 10,871.
Busiest sections, 2025
A1016 to A131 carries 1.6 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A1016 to A131 Essex · 2.2 mi · HGVs 4.7% | 28,612 |
| A130 to A120 Essex · 6.5 mi · HGVs 3.3% | 25,577 |
| B1053 to A1017 Essex · 1.2 mi · HGVs 3.1% | 22,180 |
| A138 to A1016 Essex · 2.7 mi · HGVs 5.8% | 17,380 |
| A120 to B1053 Essex · 1.5 mi · HGVs 3.9% | 17,141 |
| Middleton Rd to A131 Gainsborough St Suffolk · 0.6 mi · HGVs 2.9% | 15,219 |
| White Horse Avenue to A1124 Essex · 0.8 mi · HGVs 2.7% | 12,687 |
| Gainsborough Road/Girling Street to Chaucer Rd Suffolk · 1.1 mi · HGVs 1.6% | 12,533 |
| A1017 to White Horse Avenue Essex · 2.7 mi · HGVs 3.7% | 12,117 |
| Churchill Avenue to Middleton Rd Essex, Suffolk · 6.9 mi · HGVs 2.9% | 10,871 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Essex to Suffolk · 29.4 miles
A131 traffic and collisions by section
14 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 4 short link roads and spurs (2.0 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A1016 to A138Essex | 21,934 | 0 |
| 2 | A138 to A1016Essex | 17,380 | 3 |
| 3 | A1016 to A131Essex | 28,612 | 0 |
| 4 | A130 to A120Essex | 25,577 | 23 |
| 5 | A120 to B1053Essex | 17,141 | 20 |
| 6 | B1053 to A1017Essex | 22,180 | 10 |
| 7 | A1017 to White Horse AvenueEssex | 12,117 | 24 |
| 8 | White Horse Avenue to A1124Essex | 12,687 | 18 |
| 9 | At A1124Essex | 18,017 | fewer than 3 |
| 10 | A1124 to Churchill AvenueEssex | 9,166 | 4 |
| 11 | Churchill Avenue to Middleton RdEssex, Suffolk | 10,871 | 21 |
| 12 | Middleton Rd to A131 Gainsborough StSuffolk | 15,219 | 7 |
| 13 | Stour Street to Gainsborough Road/Girling StreetSuffolk | 10,817 | 0 |
| 14 | Gainsborough Road/Girling Street to Chaucer RdSuffolk | 12,533 | 6 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A131 as the first road, placed on the nearest section by their recorded position; rates (per 100 million vehicle miles) are shown for sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more.
A131 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 79.3% of the vehicle miles on the A131. HGVs account for 3.7%, rising to 5.8% on A138 to A1016.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 4.4% |
| 2001 | 4.2% |
| 2002 | 5.0% |
| 2003 | 5.1% |
| 2004 | 6.5% |
| 2005 | 6.4% |
| 2006 | 5.4% |
| 2007 | 5.2% |
| 2008 | 4.9% |
| 2009 | 4.3% |
| 2010 | 4.2% |
| 2011 | 4.1% |
| 2012 | 3.9% |
| 2013 | 3.7% |
| 2014 | 3.6% |
| 2015 | 3.7% |
| 2016 | 3.6% |
| 2017 | 4.0% |
| 2018 | 4.0% |
| 2019 | 4.0% |
| 2020 | 4.4% |
| 2021 | 3.6% |
| 2022 | 3.5% |
| 2023 | 3.3% |
| 2024 | 3.2% |
| 2025 | 3.7% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A131 traffic trend
Traffic on the A131 came to 188 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is up 9.8% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 10.8% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 16.2% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 113m |
| 2001 | 113m |
| 2002 | 117m |
| 2003 | 121m |
| 2004 | 119m |
| 2005 | 118m |
| 2006 | 119m |
| 2007 | 124m |
| 2008 | 123m |
| 2009 | 123m |
| 2010 | 123m |
| 2011 | 123m |
| 2012 | 124m |
| 2013 | 123m |
| 2014 | 126m |
| 2015 | 130m |
| 2016 | 132m |
| 2017 | 125m |
| 2018 | 128m |
| 2019 | 129m |
| 2020 | 102m |
| 2021 | 120m |
| 2022 | 131m |
| 2023 | 133m |
| 2024 | 135m |
| 2025 | 188m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 13,251 |
| 2001 | 13,229 |
| 2002 | 13,804 |
| 2003 | 14,209 |
| 2004 | 13,939 |
| 2005 | 13,834 |
| 2006 | 13,952 |
| 2007 | 14,587 |
| 2008 | 14,479 |
| 2009 | 14,471 |
| 2010 | 14,444 |
| 2011 | 14,415 |
| 2012 | 14,540 |
| 2013 | 14,450 |
| 2014 | 14,815 |
| 2015 | 15,313 |
| 2016 | 15,464 |
| 2017 | 14,683 |
| 2018 | 14,829 |
| 2019 | 14,870 |
| 2020 | 11,816 |
| 2021 | 13,913 |
| 2022 | 15,101 |
| 2023 | 15,407 |
| 2024 | 15,638 |
| 2025 | 17,532 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
The chart counts the whole road as it was each year, so new or renumbered stretches move it. The percentage changes compare only count points present in both years (76.9% of today’s road for 2019). In 2025, 4 of the 19 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A131 collisions
Police recorded 152 collisions with the A131 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, 48 of them fatal or serious, including 4 fatal. That is 21.5 per 100 million vehicle miles, lower than the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.0 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
Up 11.1% from 2021 to 2025.
| Year | Slight | Fatal or serious |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | 5 |
| 2022 | 21 | 6 |
| 2023 | 22 | 11 |
| 2024 | 21 | 14 |
| 2025 | 18 | 12 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
Sections with the highest collision rates
Per 100 million vehicle miles, 2021 to 2025. Sections of half a mile or more with 10 or more collisions.
| Section | Per 100m vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| White Horse Avenue to A1124 Essex · 18 collisions | 118.1 |
| A120 to B1053 Essex · 20 collisions | 44.4 |
| A1017 to White Horse Avenue Essex · 24 collisions | 42.5 |
| B1053 to A1017 Essex · 10 collisions | 21.5 |
| Churchill Avenue to Middleton Rd Essex, Suffolk · 21 collisions | 16.0 |
| A130 to A120 Essex · 23 collisions | 8.2 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 19 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A131 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A131
In route order. Each is the highway authority DfT files the count points under.
- Essex
- Suffolk
Data sources and methodology
| Figures | Source | Period | Records | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traffic counts and vehicle mix | Road traffic statistics (AADF by count point) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2000 to 2025 | 19 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 152 reported collisions | 15 September 2026 |
- Annual average daily flow (AADF) is the average number of vehicles passing a point on a typical day of the year, both directions combined.
- Vehicle miles are AADF multiplied by link length and 365, summed over every count point link on the road.
- Sections join count point links between junctions, using the link lines in DfT’s major road database.
- STATS19 covers personal injury collisions reported to the police. Damage-only collisions are not included, and not every injury collision is reported.
- Serious and slight figures are DfT’s adjusted estimates, which allow for police forces moving to injury-based reporting.
- Counts of one or two collisions below Great Britain level are shown as “fewer than 3”.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.