WORK to reconstruct the A12 will grind to a halt over the festive period, in what is a lovely Christmas gift to motorists.
National Highways has said the planned construction activity for the Marks Tey to Stanway reconstruction scheme will stop for Christmas.
Work will stop from Thursday, December 21, and not get underway again until Wednesday, January 3.
Highways bosses said the pause is to avoid causing disruption to motorists travelling over the festive period.
A spokesman added: “We’ll still have workers on site to carry out any emergency repairs or maintenance work and our recovery team will be on hand to provide assistance, should anyone breakdown within the work area.”
The work began in October last year and was due to finish next spring before being pushed back, with bosses citing “a number of unexpected challenges” as the reason for the delay, such as weather and “poor ground conditions” under the carriageway.
Reconstruction involves completely removing the concrete road surface and some of the foundations, before rebuilding the road and resurfacing it with asphalt.
As well as resurfacing, all of the kerbs, road markings, cat’s eyes and safety barriers have been replaced, and the drainage system is being updated.
Before construction shuts down over the festive season, National Highways has also revealed its last set of closures for the year.
A spokesman said: “We will need some road closures to refresh road markings, install cat’s eyes, repair some of the carriageway and remove some barrier.
“In order for us to complete this work and keep members of the public and our workers safe, we need to close parts of the A12 between 9pm and 5am.”
On Thursday, December 14, there will be a closure of the A12 London-bound carriageway between Junction 26 Stanway and Junction 25 Marks Tey.
On the same evening the London-bound entry slip road at Junction 27 Lexden will also shut down.
On Monday, December 18, meanwhile, the A12 Colchester-bound carriageway will shut and there will be a lane closure of the London-bound contraflow lane as well as lane one of the London-bound side.
All closures on the Monday will be between Junctions 26 and 25.
For more information, visit the National Highways website.
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