COUNTY Hall has pledged £5million to help get work started on making the A120 dual carriageway.

Essex County Council announced the extra money at a meeting with business people in Marks Tey about plans to improve the road which links two key transport centres – Stansted Airport and Harwich port.

The money will fund part of a £9million feasibility study into adding an extra carriageway between Marks Tey and Braintree.

Upgrading the road is expected to cost £500million.

Rodney Bass county councillor responsible for highways told business people at the meeting: “We have recently heard the Government is investing in improving the A12 corridor, and the first phase of that will be between Boreham and Marks Tey.

“It stands to reason we should understand how the A120 is going to link to that section of the A12 when it is widened.

“The A120 is the Cinderella of the road network. It wasn’t mentioned in the Government’s plans, but we can help it.

“We are pledging £5million for design and consultation work to make the stretch from Braintree to Marks Tey a preferred route for dualling.”

Mr Bass urged the Highways Agency to come up with £4million to fund safety improvements at dangerous junctions, including the Earls Colne turning in Coggeshall.

Witham MP Priti Patel welcomed Mr Bass’s announcement.

She said: “To put it quite bluntly, the A120 is not fit for purpose.

“We see anything between 20,000 and 25,000 vehicles using that 12-mile stretch of the road between Braintree and Marks Tey every day and it is already at capacity.

“That single carriageway can’t deal with the strain of cars and freight. It can only get worse. It means more traffic and products are not being delivered on time, not to mention the damage it does to the existing infrastructure.

“The local economy is losing out to the tune of £1.3billion.”

A Highways Agency spokesman said it “shared Essex County Council’s enthusiasm to see improvements made to the A120” and aimed to publish its route strategies next spring, setting out priorities for the A120 beyond 2021.

The county council's announcement comes weeks after the Government was to added to the A12 between Chelmsford and Colchester.

For more information about the dual carriageway plans, visit a120.co.uk