been saying this for ages.I think you can date most of the issues with manpower ,when the sub contractor doing the sadlers farm bridge walked off for good.Also worth noting,that the vehicles parked in Birse's car park on old A13 has almost halved in number from peak in summer/winter 2011 peak.Clearly in the wrong direction.I would be interested to know what transpired yesterday in the meeting between ECC and Birse

A couple of months ago as I was approaching the lights on the B1464 at Pound Lane one of the lorries taking waste away from the site was coming towards me at speed. It had been raining and the road was covered in mud. The lorry was going so quickly it threw up a spray of mud and stones which completely covered my windscreen leaving me blinded until I could turn on the wipers. I e-mailed Birse, politely, I simply wanted to draw attention to the speed and the dirty road. Didn't even get a reply.

As for last Wednesday. I came along the B1464 as I had been warned traffic was slow at Sadlers. I was told it was OK along the London Road. By the time I got through the hold up and on to Sadlers they had closed London Road, no warning so I could do nothing about it. It was engine switch off time and watch the lights change over and over with no movement of traffic.

As for people moaning about the work on London Road. It hasn't been that noisy. I am happy for them to work day and night. One of the lighting gang said that widening the road had turned it into a race track and some of traffic management lads commented on the speed some people are doing.

Got home in record time this afternoon. Three lanes open on the A13 east bound.

I think unless we were there for the entire evening, we cannot give a specific answer to the first question.

As for the resurfacing.... Doubt that had anything to do with overrunning works. That work had to be done at night, or daytime would be gridlock for miles around.

the point is it has been shut most nights for about 6 months and almost no resurfacing has taken places in the last 2,the progress has been painstakingly slow.[/quote]

The overnight closures have not always been for resurfacing. Other works requiring overnight closures have been for inserting piles/gantry piles (a heavy heavy job), recently inserting gantries, lifting bridge beams into place, and quite often new road layouts as part of new TM for next phases of work (sticking down reflective studs etc).
The resurfacing work can also refer to planing the surface rather than actual asphalting (more of A13(E) was planed overnight last night). Some of this work can be off the open lanes but needing full closure to get the work done. The closures have also been on and off across all the feeder roads to SF, and quite a few nights all roads have been open.
As we near the end of the scheme, we will not see more resurfacing overnight, with some initial planing works first.

Definately lots of work still taking place on s/b A130. What will be lane 1 of 3 is just waiting for works to gullies to be completed (looks like they are almost there) before adding final layer of asphalt.
Most work atm along there is approaching Sadlers from the link road. Looks like most of road is ready for surfacing where they have rebuilt the final approach. They are creeping towards Sadlers, reconstructing the carriageway and side of the road, now tearing up the site of the old crossing to complete the final alignment. Could be done there by the middle of July.

Yes, A13 is now upto three lanes e/b past Pitsea, so running smoother along there now with traffic in its own dedicated lane at the end of the on-slip and traffic from the top of the flyover shifted slightly north. This to enable full scale work on central reservation to begin.
W/b looks like it is getting ready for similar TM with studs bedded into the two new inside lanes and most of the road surface complete, with final snagging works to slopes and embankments taking place. Once that is ready any day now, should really see the central reservation quickly take shape. Looked like they were already getting on with it passing by this afternoon.

Traffic wise approaching the lights at Sadlers, still a one mile queue down the A130 at 5:15, though delay was restricted to no more than fifteen minutes. A bit of bunching in places from Pitsea still halfway to Sadlers, then over the bridge down to the roundabout, but nothing too serious. Lots of traffic approaching Tarpots from Sadlers, but lights were green for a long time so no stopping at all and no delay!

Has anyone noticed how little space there is for queuing on the roundabout at the lights . I have been beeped by people turning onto A13 East ( in the outside lane) for stopping in the queue on the roundabout at the A13 West lights to turn off towards Canvey. There's no where else to go , what do they expect .
These lights are Red everytime I go round there so this must be a common situation!

Yeah, I know we shouldn't really judge at this point, but I'm almost certain they've gone overkill with traffic lights on the north side of the roundabout. Given how well traffic is now flowing through tarpots there's just no need to stop/start the traffic on that side, there's enough gaps for people to filter in. At the moment the traffic lights are unnecessarily increasing the time cars spend on the roundabout.

I nearly got rearended tonight as the cars going straight on to Tarpots don't seem to expect anyone to stop even if you're indicating right.
I shall be quite miffed if some one does hit me whilst stopping for the lights

My husband went down to Tarpots today and saw some complete numpty behaviour. Those who know the area will be aware of the disabled/taxi parking outside Barclays bank. Hubby noticed a car parked in the bay facing towards Sadlers, so facing the wrong way. The only way he could have got there was by driving past the shops heading towards Sadlers and then cutting across just before the central reservation. The male driver came out of the bike shop, drove the wrong way and cut back into the lane for Sadlers causing traffic crossing the London Road to stop. I can't think of how many traffic laws he broke. He obviously didn't want to go all the way to Sadlers to turn round and he couldn't turn right to go in Focus car park.

He also saw a car come from where Grouts the Bakers is and turn right towards Southend when there is a sign indicating no right turn. From what he told me, I'd say the central reservation isn't long enough.

I'm venturing up to this part of the world again on Saturday. Hopefully this time I'll remember to turn the camera on and get a video of Sadlers Farm as it now stands. Is there anything else I should look out for while I'm in the area?

In terms of landmark features there isn't really anything, now the bridges are all open and most lights are up and running.

The only centres of attention right now are the A13(W) from Sadlers for about 1/2mile as they complete the realignment, approaching the Pitsea exit w/b, the A13 b/w at the link road interchange, and the s/b A130 just north of Sadlers. Plus also the roundabout between the A13 and A130 arms (B1464), and of course the central reservation of the A13. So only minor works remaining really.
Might be worth checking out the new Tarpots as well 1/2mile further east, and the new Church Road bridge/Church Road down to subway for a general view of Sadlers Farm works from overhead.

Is this on the A13 descending from the bridge to Sadlers Farm?

If it is, capacity space at the junction is being increased further. They are adding a third approach lane for those NOT going to Canvey, which will be lane 1...unless it is intended to be a ring road onto the B1464? Kerbing is mostly done there, but still some work to do. They may also be widening the approach from the end of the bridge, as they appear to be excavating part of the remaining temporary A13(E) diversion used whilst the Sadlers Farm bridge was being constructed. We might have an answer by Monday when overnight works to A13(E) are due to end?

The 'good' progress continues to be made on the A13 this week (this began before Monday's meeting).

Rapid progress is being made on resurfacing e/b. With the exception of the coned off lane 4, it's all done to a point just east of the Church Road bridge. There's a good chance all resurfacing in lanes 1-3 will be done by the end of the week (as Sadlers Farm bridge is of course already fully surfaced). More of the approach to the roundabout has also been fully surfaced.
Meanwhile the final gantry pile appears to be complete at the interchange, leaving just the gantry itself to be inserted.

W/b immediately after Sadlers it looks like they are extending the on-slip from Canvey Way, and completing works to the final alignment after that.
Further along, works to complete the inside lanes continue, at least in terms of finishing works to the new embankment gullies, barriers etc. Some planing works as well.
W/b is meant to be shut all next week overnight, so like the opposite carriageway this week, looks like final surfacing will be completed, and I suspect lane 3 will also open for traffic from the strategic link to avoid the sudden merger. Also probably explains the rapid erection of wooden fencing behind the HGV barrier protecting Brackendale Avenue properties to keep the noise out of harms way when lane 1 opens. That will surely be the case early next week?

Work is continuing in the central reservation at a more brisk rate. Not expecting a full decampment though until the w/b is upto three lanes with lane 4 coned off to complement the e/b layout.

Work to finish bricking up the retaining walls on the link road are also well on the way to completion, especially s/b. Also beginning to sort out final works to drainage channels and gullies from the looks of it.

At Sadlers Farm, beginning to see kerbing from A13 to B1464 slotted into place. Bitumen going down beside it as well now to fill the gap. Should think work on that final traffic island will therefore start next week when both widened areas either side of the island are open to traffic and the layout changed.
Meanwhile looks like they are now starting arguably the most difficult area of the roundabout to resurface - the Benfleet arm. Noticed they have planed the ten yard approach from Romsey Road this evening. Should think they will get that side done before doing the bit off the roundabout towards Tarpots. Either way could well cause chaos tonight/next few nights once more? Be warned...

Finally not much work atm on the A130(S) just north of Sadlers, with the old crossing area slowly being churned up and converted into a realigned section of the road. There is a week long overnight closure scheduled for this road the week after next, so that could see the final works completed?

Fingers crossed, with the news of a new works programme, it should all be complete by the end of the month.

Is the Church Road subway open yet? I'm planning another walk in the next few days, would save quite a bit of time if I could use it!

Still closed. Can't see it reopening for a while

Thanks Runwell, looks like the weather may intervene this weekend in any case...

The traffic lights were switched off on Sadlers at 05:30, wonder why?

Not sure whether it would have been beneficial to go down today or not, regardless of weather.

Not sure if Ritchie did make the trip today, but sounds a bit of a mare today, with the lights switched off at Sadlers (meaning the link road to Canvey is also shut), one lane only on the A13 both ways, and the link road shut both ways. No idea what they are doing there today (electrical work maybe?) but whole area has been clobbered since 8am this morning. A130 back to A127. A13 from Benfleet back towards Hadleigh and all side roads in Benfleet a mess. A13 queuing back towards Stanford-le-Hope. Old A13 through Bowers Gifford right back to Pitsea. Lots of Pitsea and Basildon, plus A127 approaching Rayleigh exit and A129 down through Thundersley also taking a hit with traffic trying to find another route. Might try and brave it down Pound Lane shortly and park up and see what work is going on.

On a better note, noticed yesterday work has now started on the junction island at the B1464 exit on the roundabout, with kerbing starting to be slotted in. Also most resurfacing on A13(E) now done, upto a point just before the Sadlers bridge.

Hi Runwell,
Re the queuing on the roundabout the worst part seems to be at the junction with the A13 Westbound on the North side going off towards Canvey. You end up queuing across the lanes going toward Southend on the A13 East.Although this morning I saw the same thing at the Exit off the roundabout A13 West South side where the outside lane going off was blocked by queuing traffic.
After saying all this I don't know how you can deal with queuing traffic on a roundabout, there's never going to be enough room.