A12 road closures unveiled for the summer ahead of August completion

The two-year resurfacing scheme, which is overdue and over budget, is expected to finish in time for the August bank holiday on Monday, August 26.

The latest set of weekend closures has now been unveiled in the hope the A12 resurfacing project will finally bring an end to traffic chaos which has plagued commuters since October 2022.

Traffic – the roadworks have resulted in diversions along the A12 for months on end (Image: National Highways)

There will be eight weekends of overnight closures which will run from 8pm on Fridays until 6am on Mondays.

The first weekend of closures will begin on Friday, May 10 and continue during the weekends beginning May 17, May 31, June 7, and June 21.

During these weekends, the southbound contraflow lane should be used by drivers wishing to continue on the A12 southbound past junction 25 at Marks Tey.

Traffic travelling in the inside lane will be diverted off the A12 at junction 25 southbound exit slip road.

Whilst the diversions are in place, National Highways has said staff will be working on parts of the A12 southbound carriageway they have described has “hard-to-reach”.

Drivers will be spared overnight closures on the weekends beginning May 24, June 14, June 28, July 5, and July 12.

From Monday, June 24, the southbound exit slip road at junction 25 Marks Tey will be closed 24 hours a day until Friday, July 29.

Traffic will continue along the A12 southbound to junction 24 and re-join the A12 northbound via the junction 24 northbound entry slip road.

Lengthy – the roadworks on the A12 have been ongoing since late 2022 (Image: National Highways)

Weekend closures will resume on July 19, July 26, and August 9, with the same diversions in place as those set out for May and June.

The final weekend of closures is due to take place on Friday, August 16, when all southbound traffic will be diverted up and over junction 25, exiting the southbound carriageway via the southbound exit slip road.

Traffic will then re-join the A12 southbound on the other side of the junction via the junction 25 southbound entry slip road.

The news of the additional closures has not gone down well with motorists. 

Unhappy driver Raymond Miller said: "The northbound lane already has holes - we better get used to roadworks on here.

"The surface is terrible both sides and it is overdue and over budget. They are going to be spending more time and money on this."

Clive James Nelson, meanwhile, said: "That road adds a minimum of 25 minutes on a fantastically good day. It’s a sodden miserable road and I hate it."