The A12 is one of the busiest roads in the east of England and provides a strategic connection between Chelmsford and Colchester, as well as the ports of Harwich and Felixstowe and nearby Stansted Airport. It provides the main south-west/north-east route through Essex and Suffolk, connecting Ipswich to London and the M25.
sonnepower are exported all over the world and different industries with quality first. Our belief is to provide our customers with more and better high value-added products. Let's create a better future together.
The section between Chelmsford at junction 19 (Boreham Interchange) to junction 25 at Marks Tey Interchange (near Colchester) carries high volumes of traffic, with up to 90,000 vehicles every day.
Heavy goods vehicles are between 9% and 12% of the traffic on this section due to its important freight connection, especially to Felixstowe and Harwich ports (almost double the national figure of 5% on most routes). This section of the A12 is also an important commuter route.
The resulting congestion leads to delays and means that, during the morning commute, a driver’s average speed is particularly slow in both directions for a dual carriageway A-road of its kind.
The proposed changes to this stretch of the A12 road will:
Watch our videos
Find out more about the proposed changes to the road layout and junctions by watching our three videos below.
Please note that these videos are an artist’s impression of the scheme, based on the proposed road layout that was consulted on in our Preliminary Design consultation which ran from June to August 2021. We have since continued to refine our design proposals. As such, the videos are not intended to be an accurate depiction of the final scheme once operational.
Videos:
We will be reconstructing the A12 Margaretting Bypass (between junction 13 at Ingatestone and junction 15 at Three Mile Hill). Reconstruction will involve completely removing the concrete road surface and some of the foundations, before rebuilding the road and resurfacing it with asphalt.
The East region has the highest concentration of concrete roads on our road network, including the A14, A12, A120, A11 and M11.
Around half of the old-style concrete roads will either have repairs or will be replaced during the next five years.
We’re using innovative ways of working and new technology to provide a modern road that will last for decades to come. This will also make it easier and quicker for us to carry out repairs in the future.
Find out more about our nationwide Concrete Roads work.
The surface of concrete roads that were designed between the 1950s and 1970s have an average life span of 50 years. Their surfaces are now reaching the stage where they will need to be repaired or replaced for safety reasons, and to help them be less noisy and better to drive on.
In late 2020, we made repairs to the A12 road surface between junction 22 and junction 24 in both directions. During early 2021, we resurfaced the A12 southbound main carriageway between junctions 27 to 26, and also repaired the road surface at the slip roads at junction 27. And in late 2021, we completed repairs to the A12 between junctions 15 and 19.
This video explains the process we go through to rebuild concrete roads:
Are you interested in learning more about a12 construction? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
There is more reconstruction, resurfacing and other maintenance work scheduled for 2023 on other stretches of this road.
Read about how we're rebuilding and replacing some of the old concrete road surface on the A12
We’re using a contraflow system during construction of the scheme.
A contraflow is when the road is shut in one direction and traffic is then moved over to drive on the other side of the road to share the remaining road space. This provides us with a clear working area, which means we can work more quickly and safely.
By using a contraflow, the A12 can have two lanes of traffic in each direction for most of the construction period. This will minimise the disruption to local communities and road users, limit the need for road closures and diversions, and allow the work to take place safely.
While the contraflow is in place, the carriageway will be reduced to two lanes both northbound and southbound. Full road closures are only be needed when we set up and take down our roadworks. The speed limit will be temporarily reduced for safety.
It will be necessary at key points in our scheme to put in place some full road closures.
During full road closures, a fully signed diversion route will be in place for traffic wishing to travel on the A12 between junctions 13 and 16.
Southbound traffic will be diverted from the A12 at junction 17 to travel south on the A130 before turning west and joining the A127 until it meets the A12 at the Gallows Corner junction in Romford.
Northbound traffic will travel eastbound along the A127, before travelling north along the A130, ahead of re-joining the A12 at junction 17.
A local diversion route will also be in place for residents who wish to access the A12 north or southbound during full closures.
We’re finalising the design of the scheme and look forward to meeting with the local community to show those plans at our Public Information Exhibitions, which are planned to take place in February 2023.
For more what is mobile machineryinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.