A12 Essex weekend closure called off after delays

Parts of the northbound A12 at Marks Tey were due to close every weekend until mid-August

Plans to close part of the A12 through Essex this weekend have been called off after long delays last weekend.

National Highways closed the Marks Tey junction (J25) on the northbound A12 on Friday night, reopening it on Monday morning.

However, the diversion resulted in delays of more than an hour.

The work is part of a multi-million pound project to remove and replace the old concrete road surface.

Last weekend's closure saw diversions in place from 21:00 BST on Friday until 05:00 on Monday.

National Highways planned to repeat the closure each weekend until mid August. However, the plan is now being rethought following last weekend's "significant congestion".

"Queues quickly began to form and a decision has been taken to cancel this weekend's closure while a full review is undertaken," the organisation said.

Karl Brooks, its programme delivery manager, apologised to motorists affected by the congestion.

"Where delays are unavoidable we try to ensure those planning on using a particular road, where works are taking place, are given as much advanced notice as possible to allow them to plan their journey - whether that is allowing a little more time or finding an alternate route.

"On this basis we have made the decision to cancel this weekend's junction 25 northbound closure.

"We will now fully review our plans and see what we can do to make things better ahead of our next proposed weekend closure of junction 25, which is scheduled to be Fri 14 - Mon 17 July," he said.

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