Colchester's Northern Approach Road surfacing starts

Essex County Council appointed company John Sisk and Son to carry out the work alongside the A134 Northern Approach Road last year. 

It was promised that the road, which will include a new bus lane, signals and upgrades of the junctions along the corridor, would be completed by the spring or summer of this year.

However, delays meant it is now not expected to be completed at the end of the year.

The project has now hit a big milestone, as tarmac has been put down on the Northern Approach bus lane.

Progress - As of this week, the road is now being surfaced (Image: Will Bramhill)

Mile End councillor Martin Goss was pleased the project has taken a step forward.

He said: I’m pleased this has really started to take shape purely because I want to see this project over as quickly as possible.

"It’s caused major inconvenience to residents and needs to end."

The project is part of ongoing works to create a new rapid transit system, giving priority to buses and other forms of transport which will be separate from other traffic.

The rapid transit system will have stops along its route, delivering services every few minutes and connecting residents with destinations such as the hospital, train station, city centre and university.

Will Bramhill from the Colchester Cycling Campaign argued that public understanding of the rapid transport system is "generally poor", with the only other nearby comparison being the Glider in Belfast which uses bendy buses.

Mr Bramhill said: “It is a fast bus that people will use regularly, a bus service that Colchester has never had.

“Where service buses, the regular buses, go wrong, is the way they are organised.

"This  will be an eight to nine minute service, it will be faster, and give you a more frequent service.

He added: “Personally, if you look at the electric vehicle revolution it hasn’t really taken off, I have a friend who has used electric cars used to love it but had to scrap his car, when it reached 47 thousand miles.

“The question has to be posed, will we have as many cars in ten to 15 years’ time, it’s quite likely and especially those who cannot afford a second-hand car, lease a car.

“I personally see people walking, cycling, and going on buses more, for trips under five miles.”

In response to this article, a spokesperson for Essex County Council said: “We are pleased that the works have now reached a stage that the new Rapid Transit System infrastructure will start to take shape, and we expect this section of the route to be completed by the end of this year.

“There will be changes to the traffic management in early September and we would urge residents to visit the project webpage at www.essexhighways.org/colchester-rapid-transit for regular updates.”