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A12
The fifteen mile stretch of the A12 between Colchester – Junction 25 (Marks Tey interchange) to junction 19 (Boreham interchange) – will be widened to three lanes in each direction. At an estimated cost of £1.2 billion this improvement doesn’t come cheap, nor does it come without its objectors, it includes two major by-passes, one between Marks Tey and Kelvedon North (junctions 25 to 24) and a second at Rivenhall End.
Other junctions along the length of the proposed work will be improved to reduce accidents and to enable traffic to flow freely onto, and off the triple lane dual carriage way. This proposal has been the subject of a planning application and a six month development consent process but is due to start later this year (2023).
There is ongoing discussion about the need for junction 23, south west of Kelvedon (junction 24 will provide access to Kelvedon and Tiptree). Reducing the number of junctions reduces the number of accident black spots. Junction 23, if built, will provide access onto the realigned A120 (see below).
This section of the A12 is a very busy stretch of road, currently carrying some 90,000 vehicles per day, and it carries a higher than average proportion of Heavy Goods Traffic: containers from Felixstowe and Harwich heading for London. Freight can amount to 12% of all traffic, whereas the national average for trunk roads is in the region of 5%.
A120
Also on the cards, but with the route not yet finalised and the funding not yet agreed, is a replacement dual carriageway parallel to the single carriageway A120 between Marks Tey and Braintree. Not quite parallel to the existing road as it will probably start at junction 23 (A12) south of Kelvedon and head north-west to Galley’s Corner roundabout at Braintree adding three miles to the journey from Ipswich to Stansted. This road was one of a number in the 2020 Road Investment Strategy (RIS2) planned for an on-site start before 2025.
M25 Junction 28
Further works proposed in Essex (that will interrupt journeys from Ipswich towards the capital) include a £170 million upgrade of Junction 28 on the M25.
The most noticeable change will be a new slip road between the anti-clockwise M25 and the A12 heading north-east. The existing slip road is too short for the volume of traffic carried and cannot be easily extended because the Great Eastern main railway line crosses the motorway close to the top of the slip road. Instead a new slip will be constructed in the space to the west of the junction creating a 270 degree near-circle to join the roundabout, under the M25 (one leaf of a four leaf clover).
This work has been agreed by the Secretary of State for Transport and should have started by the time you read this.
John Norman