Major surface upgrades to begin on A12 in Essex
National Highways will start work on a £35m project to reconstruct and replace the concrete road surface
‘Safer and smoother journeys ahead!’
That’s the message to drivers who live, work or travel in and around Essex as National Highways begins work on a multi-million-pound surface upgrade to the A12 in Essex.
Starting today, National Highways will start work on a £35m project to reconstruct and replace the concrete road surface of the A12 carriageway between Marks Tey (junction 25) and Stanway (junction 26), as a part of its nationwide drive to revitalise concrete roads across the country.
The scheme will see National Highways completely remove the concrete road surface and some of the foundations, before rebuilding the road with recycled material and a new asphalt road surface.
As well as resurfacing the road, the project will also see replacement kerbs installed, the drainage system refurbished, safety barriers replaced, new road markings and new reflective road studs (cat’s eyes).
National Highways regional director, Martin Fellows, said:
“The A12 is one of the region's most important road helping to connect London with Suffolk, a vital route every day for work journeys and home deliveries, visits to friends and family, and the movement of goods and services.
“This scheme is part of National Highways continued investment into upgrading the road surface of the A12 so it can continue to serve the 80,000 drivers who use it every day. We appreciate that living, working or travelling in and around the stretch of road while this major construction takes place might not be easy, but we will do all we can to minimise disruption and make sure the benefits are experienced as soon as possible.”
This £35m project follows several concrete road schemes undertaken on the A12 in the previous two years. In late 2020, National Highways made repairs to the road surface between Colemans Interchange (junction 22) and Kelvedon (junction 24), as well as resurfacing the southbound carriageway between Spring Lane Interchange (junction 27) and Eight Ash Green (junction 26) in early 2021.
In late 2021, a further concrete road project saw repairs made to the A12 surface between Webbs Farm (J15) and the Boreham Interchange (junction 19). Later this year National Highways will begin a project to reconstruct the concrete carriageway on the A12 between junction 13 (Trueloves Interchange) and junction 15 (Webbs Farms Interchange).
For the safety of workers and motorists, National Highways will complete the vital upgrades on the A12 in stages using a two-lane contraflow system:
• Phase one will start at junction 25 eastbound and head up to junction 26 working in lanes one and two, with traffic in a contraflow.
• Phase two will start at junction 25 eastbound and head up to junction 26 working in lanes two and three, with traffic in a contraflow.
• Phase three will start at junction 26 westbound and head down to junction 25 working in lanes one and two, with traffic in a contraflow.
• Phase four will start at junction 26 westbound and head down to junction 25 working in lanes two and three, with traffic in a contraflow.
The contraflow system will keep the A12 open during the day at a reduced capacity. Due to the nature of the work, some noise and light disturbance is expected but this will be kept to a minimum.
Preparation work to install the contraflow system on the A12 between Marks Tey and Stanway will begin at the end of the month. This will require overnight closures of both the northbound and southbound carriageway – full details can be found at: https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-roads/east/a12-junction-25-marks-tey-to-junction-26-stanway-concrete-roads-reconstruction/
For more information about upcoming concrete road projects, visit: nationalhighways.co.uk/industry/concrete-roads/