UK-wide motorway and A-road improvement plan launched

THE Government has unveiled an ambitious road improvement plan, which is planned to improve some of the nation’s busiest A-roads and motorways.

Covering roads in Essex, East Anglia, Kent, and Lancashire, the entire scheme will run into the millions and should see road journeys improved for hundreds of thousands of drivers every day.

Triumph Trident 660 vs Aprilia Tuono 660 

M6 wear and tear repairs

Large sections of both the northbound and southbound carriageways along the 13-mile section of the motorway between junction 32 and junction 33 are being resurfaced in the 14-week, £3.25 million project that is due to start on Monday 28th June.

As much of the UK moves into the holiday period – and within foreign holidays still off the cards for most – Highways England is stating that the repairs will take place overnight, and with only a handful of carriageway closures.

All the repairs will be delivered between 8pm and 7am at night when traffic is at its lightest, and it’s hoped that only four overnight carriageway closures will be required during the whole of the project.

The overnight closures, along the southbound carriageway, are currently scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday 27 and 28 July and Friday and Saturday 10 and 11 September with the long-standing A6 diversion in place. Access to and out of the southbound Lancashire (Forton) services will also be closed for one night only on Monday 13 September. A 50mph speed limit will be in place along sections where work is taking place.

A47 to A11 Thickthorn Interchange works to begin 2023

The A47 is having £450 million spent on it between Peterborough and Great Yarmouth, with changes and upgrades to the Thickthorn Interchange (A47 and A11 – Norwich) also planned.

The improvement works are set to take place in six places between Peterborough and Great Yarmouth and are hoped to be completed by 2024. The upgraded junction will improve journey times by between four and five minutes for the 53,000 drivers who use the roundabout daily, while also making the junction safer by reducing the number of accidents there.

M2 to be upgraded at junction 5 in Stocksbury in Kent

The go-ahead has been given for major improvement works at junction 5 on the M2, the interchange with the A249 at Stocksbury in Kent. The £92m works are set to improve the journeys of hundreds of thousands of drivers every day.

The junction is one of the busiest in the region and experiences large queues and heavy congestion on a daily basis. It also has one of the highest collision rates across England’s motorway and major A roads nationally. It’s hoped the project will reduce collisions by around a third, as well as easing congestion and obviously delays.

Have your say on the A12 Essex upgrade

Drivers, local people and business owners are being invited to share their views on plans to upgrade the A12 in Essex to three lanes as an eight-week consultation begins on Tuesday (22 June).

Highways England announced its preferred option for adding an extra lane to the 15 miles of the A12 between Chelmsford and Marks Tey in 2019 and 2020 as part of a billion-pound upgrade of the road.

Overall, the proposed changes to this stretch of the A12 road will include:

• improvements to junctions 19 and 25
• widening the dual carriageway from two to three lanes in each direction from Hatfield Peverel to Marks Tey
• removal of existing junctions 20a, 20b and 23
• construction of new junctions 21, 22 and 24 providing access to the A12 in both directions
• creation of two bypasses, one between junctions 22 and 23 and another between junctions 24 and junction 25
• new and improved existing walking, cycling and horse-riding routes.

People can take part in the consultation, which runs from Tuesday 22 June to Monday 16 August, by:

• visiting our A12 Chelmsford to A120 widening scheme web page
• e-mailing A12chelmsfordA120wide@highwaysengland.co.uk
• completing one of the forms available at the public events and collection points.