Chelmsford's Parkway, one of the busiest roads in Essex, could be closed for six months at a time while its three ageing pedestrian subways are reinforced.

The project could cost £3million if a £64,000 test, using two replica tunnel sections, shows that major work is necessary.

The pedestrian tunnels linking the town centre and Old Moulsham at the Manor Road, Moulsham Street and London Road junctions have failed load-bearing tests.

Essex Friends of the Earth said that the cost and disruption could be avoided by blocking the tunnels with concrete and putting lights-controlled pedestrian and cyclist crossings over the bustling dual carriageway instead.

"Those tunnels are horrible, forbidding and frightening places," said the Friends' Paula Whitney. "They should be got rid of."

County senior engineer Colin Cranley said that the suggestion would put pedestrians at risk.

He said that excavation would be timed as best as possible off-peak, possibly one carriageway at a time with a contraflow.

"We have not worked out yet if all three would be done at once or whether each would have a separate six-month slot for repairs," said Mr Cranley.

"It would not only disrupt traffic -- there would also be noise in a residential area to take account of."

Parkway subway: The tunnels under one of the county's busiest roads, built in the 1970s, have failed load-bearing tests.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.