A-road
A137 traffic and collisions
The A137 is an A-road of 18.5 miles, from Essex to Suffolk. This page covers its traffic at 11 DfT count points since 2000 and the collisions police recorded on it.
- Traffic in 2025 67m vehicle miles
- Average daily traffic 9,930 vehicles a day, both directions
- Busiest section 19,493 A14 to B1456 The Strand
- HGV share 3.2% of vehicle miles
- Traffic since 2019 −1.9% same count points
- Collisions, 2021 to 2025 108 33.5 per 100m vehicle miles
How busy is the A137?
On an average day in 2025, 9,930 vehicles passed each point on the A137, counting both directions. The busiest section is A14 to B1456 The Strand (Suffolk), with 19,493 a day; the quietest listed is Welshwood Park Rd to B1352, with 7,031.
Busiest sections, 2025
A14 to B1456 The Strand carries 2.0 times the road’s average flow.
| Section | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| A14 to B1456 The Strand Suffolk · 0.8 mi · HGVs 5.7% | 19,493 |
| B1456 The Strand to A1022 Bridge St roundabout Suffolk · 1.5 mi · HGVs 2.4% | 17,134 |
| B1352 to B1070 Essex, Suffolk · 1.5 mi · HGVs 2.2% | 13,446 |
| B1070 to A14 Suffolk · 6.6 mi · HGVs 4.0% | 9,297 |
| Chancery Road to A1214 London Road/A1071 Handford Road Suffolk · 0.6 mi · HGVs 3.8% | 8,679 |
| A133 to Welshwood Park Rd Essex · 1.1 mi · HGVs 2.1% | 8,555 |
| Welshwood Park Rd to B1352 Essex · 5.8 mi · HGVs 2.4% | 7,031 |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Route
Essex to Suffolk · 18.5 miles
A137 traffic and collisions by section
9 sections between junctions, in route order. Each is the average of its DfT count points, weighted by length. 1 short link roads and spurs (0.2 miles) count in the road’s totals but are not listed.
Sections Tap a column heading to sort
| # | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A133 to Welshwood Park RdEssex | 8,555 | 9 |
| 2 | Welshwood Park Rd to B1352Essex | 7,031 | 13 |
| 3 | B1352 to B1070Essex, Suffolk | 13,446 | 14 |
| 4 | B1070 to A14Suffolk | 9,297 | 26 |
| 5 | A14 to B1456 The StrandSuffolk | 19,493 | 6 |
| 6 | B1456 The Strand to A1022 Bridge St roundaboutSuffolk | 17,134 | 21 |
| 7 | Quadling Street to A1022 Bridge St roundabout/Greyfriars RoadSuffolk | 9,801 | 3 |
| 8 | West End Road to Quadling Street/Grafton WaySuffolk | 7,935 | 8 |
| 9 | Chancery Road to A1214 London Road/A1071 Handford RoadSuffolk | 8,679 | 8 |
Vehicles a day is the average daily flow in 2025. “Since 2019” compares the same count points. Collisions are those with the A137 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.
A137 traffic by vehicle type
Cars and taxis make up 79.9% of the vehicle miles on the A137. HGVs account for 3.2%, rising to 5.7% on A14 to B1456 The Strand.
Vehicle mix, 2025
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
HGV share of traffic
| Year | HGV share |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 4.2% |
| 2001 | 4.1% |
| 2002 | 4.1% |
| 2003 | 4.4% |
| 2004 | 4.8% |
| 2005 | 4.7% |
| 2006 | 4.7% |
| 2007 | 4.8% |
| 2008 | 4.5% |
| 2009 | 4.1% |
| 2010 | 4.2% |
| 2011 | 4.0% |
| 2012 | 4.0% |
| 2013 | 3.9% |
| 2014 | 3.9% |
| 2015 | 3.9% |
| 2016 | 3.9% |
| 2017 | 3.7% |
| 2018 | 3.4% |
| 2019 | 3.4% |
| 2020 | 4.0% |
| 2021 | 3.5% |
| 2022 | 3.3% |
| 2023 | 3.2% |
| 2024 | 3.1% |
| 2025 | 3.2% |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
A137 traffic trend
Traffic on the A137 came to 67.1 million vehicle miles in 2025. At the count points present in both years, it is down 1.9% on 2019, before the pandemic, and up 3.6% on 2015.
Vehicle miles a year
Like for like, traffic is up 8.4% on 2000.
| Year | Vehicle miles |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 68m |
| 2001 | 68m |
| 2002 | 73m |
| 2003 | 70m |
| 2004 | 70m |
| 2005 | 69m |
| 2006 | 69m |
| 2007 | 68m |
| 2008 | 65m |
| 2009 | 65m |
| 2010 | 64m |
| 2011 | 65m |
| 2012 | 64m |
| 2013 | 64m |
| 2014 | 65m |
| 2015 | 65m |
| 2016 | 66m |
| 2017 | 67m |
| 2018 | 70m |
| 2019 | 68m |
| 2020 | 52m |
| 2021 | 59m |
| 2022 | 64m |
| 2023 | 66m |
| 2024 | 66m |
| 2025 | 67m |
Source:DfT,UK Motoring analysis 2000 to 2025 Updated
Average daily flow
| Year | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 9,076 |
| 2001 | 9,093 |
| 2002 | 9,790 |
| 2003 | 10,034 |
| 2004 | 10,156 |
| 2005 | 10,008 |
| 2006 | 9,966 |
| 2007 | 9,837 |
| 2008 | 9,338 |
| 2009 | 9,316 |
| 2010 | 9,263 |
| 2011 | 9,344 |
| 2012 | 9,258 |
| 2013 | 9,231 |
| 2014 | 9,388 |
| 2015 | 9,552 |
| 2016 | 9,712 |
| 2017 | 9,823 |
| 2018 | 10,288 |
| 2019 | 10,119 |
| 2020 | 7,684 |
| 2021 | 8,743 |
| 2022 | 9,534 |
| 2023 | 9,723 |
| 2024 | 9,833 |
| 2025 | 9,930 |
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. In 2025, 2 of the 11 count points were counted; DfT estimated the rest from earlier counts and local trends.
A137 collisions
Police recorded 108 collisions with the A137 as the first road from 2021 to 2025, fewer than 3 of them fatal or serious. That is 33.5 per 100 million vehicle miles, close to the 31.5 for all A-roads in Great Britain. On average there were 1.2 a year for each mile of road.
Reported collisions by year
About the same in 2025 as in 2021.
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 |
| 2022 | 27 |
| 2023 | 16 |
| 2024 | 21 |
| 2025 | 22 |
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 |
|---|---|
| B1456 The Strand to A1022 Bridge St roundabout Suffolk · 21 collisions | 46.4 |
| B1352 to B1070 Essex, Suffolk · 14 collisions | 40.5 |
| B1070 to A14 Suffolk · 26 collisions | 24.1 |
| Welshwood Park Rd to B1352 Essex · 13 collisions | 18.2 |
Source:DfT STATS19,UK Motoring analysis 2021 to 2025 Updated
A further 8 collisions were recorded at junctions where the A137 was the second road; they are not in the figures above. Fatal or serious uses DfT’s adjusted serious figures. 100.0% of the collisions could be placed on a section. How we count collisions
Council areas on the A137
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 | 11 count points in 2025 | 15 September 2026 |
| Reported collisions | Road safety open data (STATS19) Department for Transport Derived statistics UK Motoring | 2021 to 2025 | 108 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.