MOTORISTS have been suffering heavy congestion as a planned A12 closure has caused severe traffic issues in north Essex.

The Colchester-bound carriageway of A12 between junction 25 for Marks Tey and junction 26 for Stanway has been closed all weekend from 9pm on Friday, October 6 to 5am tomorrow, Monday, October 9.

The closure, which is part of the £37 million Marks Tey to Stanway reconstruction scheme, has caused chaos for drivers using the major road all weekend.

Highways bosses gave motorists advance warnings of “severe delays”, adding drivers should “plan ahead and allow extra time when travelling and avoid the area if possible”.

The diversion route takes traffic off at Junction 25 and travelling along the B1408 and A1124 through Marks Tey and Stanway before re-joining the A12 at Junction 26.

Gazette: Squeeze - an ambulance making its way through the A12 trafficSqueeze - an ambulance making its way through the A12 traffic (Image: Public)

One driver who faced the issues was Claudia Bradley, who said it took her “three hours” to get between Witham and Marks Tey.

Speaking to the Gazette, she said: “Traffic had to merge into one lane before Marks Tey, go through traffic lights on the roundabout, and then be directed through Colchester. 

“It took me 3 hours to get between Witham and Marks Tey, I was heading to Ipswich.

“When I got to Marks Tey I turned around and it took me just 20 minutes to get home. 

“At one point an ambulance tried to come through and everyone was honking to tell each other to get out the way.

“It was chaos.”

Work on the reconstruction scheme began in October last year, and involves completely removing the concrete road surface and some of the foundations, before rebuilding the road and resurfacing it with asphalt.

It is not expected to conclude until the winter of 2023/24.

Following the weekend’s work, National Highways have said the reconstruction and surfacing of the northbound carriageway will be “almost complete.”

“This means we’ll move into the next phase of our work and start rebuilding lanes two and three of the southbound carriageway”, a spokesman added.

“From Monday, October 9, we will begin the process of moving our contraflow lanes in preparation for this work starting.”

The A12 London-bound carriageway will be undergoing various overnight closures over the next two months.

A new contraflow lane will also be put in place.

For more information, visit the National Highways website.