Tried to upload the video but it took so long it gave up, if it was possible in the first place. Passed through the underpass about 5:40. Was stuck for 45 minutes for over a mile on the A130 from 4:15. I've been stuck in worse along there I suppose.

Can confirm from my brief visit this afternoon that the new Church Road bridge is open for business. There are still traffic lights up at the southern end, as they begin to strip back the old bridge ahead of this weekend's demolition, and then complete the kerbing work with footpath where it merges with part of the old alignment. Barriers are still not fully in place on approaches to new bridge, just managed by big concrete barriers atm.

A130(S) new bit of road is nearly there now. Central reservation barriers are now almost completely in place, except pretty much for the top end near Rayleigh Spur, and the very southern end of the new road as one approaches the site of the eventual A130(S) split to the strategic link.
Speaking of which, plenty of work in last few days it seems to excavate this final part of the jigsaw. By the end of the month it should be just about possible to make out the rough alignment of the route.

Here's one of the temporary new signs on the A13. This will confuse people as very soon the Sadlers Farm bridge will open, and instead of using the left lane(s) for the link road, they will have to be in the right lanes!

Btw I expect there will be at least three lanes again on the approach to the roundabout, as you were discussing earlier. I suspect the right hand lane will take you through the roundabout (via lights), then another set before you come out of the roundabout to enter Canvey Way. Lane 1 at the roundabout will probably be for Bowers Gifford and A130(N), lane 2 for A130(N) and Benfleet A13. Though I understand the roundabout itself will be four lanes, so two lanes somewhere for Benfleet traffic.

So if the link road is now open, is my trip through the area this Thursday (M25 to Chelmsford - my first for over a year) worth going this way or still to be avoided like the plague - passing through about 8:30am and back about 6pm

I assume some roads on Wiki will require updating?

the link road north is open but better off avoiding, Id use the A127/A12 if I were you.

Indeed, the tailback is obviously Benfleet/Canvey traffic so the underpass isnt having much effect.

My concern now is that when the open up the slip road to take the Benfleet Canvey traffic over the bridge to the roundabout that the traffic will still be tailing back.

I used the new A130 (N) link last night, which in itself was pretty clear. And that is the problem - the main volume of traffic queueing up to Sadlers is for Benfleet, Tarpots, Canvey. Definately caused by the moronic decision to do all the work to kerbing, widening in Tarpots just the other side of the roundabout. It took me 45 minutes to get from Five Bells to the new turn off. I dont think any noticeable difference will be felt anywhere on this project until all of it is open.

Like other contibutors I am also concerned about the road layout. Traffic intending to use the new underpass will have to get into the outside lane(s) and those going straight over in the inside lanes. I can still see the Benfleet, Canvey and Tarpots traffic backing up along the new bridge (dont know its name) therefore probably clogging everything up again down to Pitsea.

At least the end of this "omnishambles" is in sight now. Just a case of gritting teeth and getting on with it.

(BTW who else finds the "POLICE SPEED CHECK AREA" signs dotted about the place seriously un-funny)

re "Police Speed check Area" sign...yes v un-funny.....those guys must really have there hands full!!! lots of over-time for the ohh-so busy Essex Traffic Police...the other gem is the "Considerate Construction" sign on the roundabout...all those man hours wasted..thats whats wrong with this project and constuction projects in general...more time moving cones around etc...

Anyone know when Tarpots is due to be completed!

how about...anyone know when anything will be finished? its much more fun starting new things...

I am afraid as a resident of Benfleet I am at the end of my tether with this whole situation.This is going to be a pesimistic prediction,but if you live on Canvey or in Benfleet,there will be NO IMPROVEMENT IN JOURNEY TIMES from when the 6 roundabouts were there.,in my opinion this is 65 million pound chucked away .The only people who will benefit will be those that live OUTSIDE the borough of Castle Point,ie Rochford ,Rayleigh etc.Funny Tracy Chapman comes from Rochford.,not suggesting that has anything to do with it.If it was to the benefit of those Castle Point residents who have suffered more than most,the whole thing would have been designed differently.All that will happen now is the A127 will be relieved of more traffic from M25 to A130.The northbound link made no difference and yes it will be easier when tarpots is done,but it will go back to original journey times with people queuing on a bridge rather than a roundabout.
I hope I am wrong,but at the moment I don't think so

Well there should be an improvement as you will no longer be contesting the roundabout with A130 traffic trying to get to the A13, the canvey traffic will have its own cut off (albeit they had their own mini roundabout before) and A13 to A130 traffic.

So in theory the roundabout will be quieter, but Id think not massively so.

However, throughout these works its been clear to me not much traffic actually comes via the A13 to A130N, although this may be cause they are avoiding it and using A127, so whilst this may not improve access to Benfleet/Canvey it will improve access to the whole area in the same way the works have affected the whole area.

Bottom line is you are still going to have the same amount of cars going into Benfleet/Canvey as ever so the bottlenecks are still there.

Just feels like there was a missed opportunity here to get some kind of direct link up for the people travelling on and off Canvey. I think that may have helped to un-clog things a bit.

A better solution might have been

1. a direct bypass like they've done for those going north to A127 (like me)
2. and a direct link/bypass down to Canvey, leaving clearer roads for the Benfleet, Tarpots and Hadleigh residents.

But no amount of wishful thinking is going to make that happen so let's see how this mess ends up when it's done.

And as for Tracy Chapman coming from Rochford I can assure you she has no friends round here and we get no preferential treatment - the roads in Rochford are literally so strewn with pot holes it's like driving off road most of the time. The local district councillors are always blaming ECC so it's just a big farce.

Update two pages back:



No mention of tarpots there though...

That will probably be beyond May, as 'technically' although the traffic lights at Tarpots are being linked to Sadlers Farm, it is a seperate scheme (oops doing ECC PR work for them....). I am quite sure they will have to slightly widen the northern side of the road as well. At least they have nearly done the southern side. Hopefully the work to reconfigure the actual junction will not take too long.


Not much will change as when Sadlers Farm bridge opens, the current temporary route past the link road will be closed and torn up so they can complete the s/b link onto the A13(W), and also to slightly reposition the existing A13(W). Two lanes should both be open on the bridge when it opens soon.

maybe an idea whenever she has to be re-elected you kick her out

Once again stuck in immensely heavy traffic under the Pitsea flyover. New road has done nothing!

When are the people in charge of this complete disaster going to understand that the problem is one lane at Tarpots being closed! We need that second lane back open!!

I am another Benfleet resident that gets caught up in these roadworks. Fortunately I work shifts so it's only really one week in three that I have problems coming home from work.

I live right on the London Road so going either way by car is a no no unless absolutely necessary.

This morning I walked to Tarpots shops, machinery in the road but nobody around using it. I also saw a dumper truck driver with both hands in the air while moving along the road. Later we watched as a pump lorry was used to get rid of the water that had filled the trench where they are widening the road. Then they laid tarmac. A few hours later my husband saw someone checking it and then it was taken up again

Tonight I came along the A13 just before 23:00, they were working in the central area a bit before the new bridge. First time I've seen them working late for some time.

Am I right in thinking that traffic for Benfleet will be going up over the new bypass before dropping back down to the roundabout? If so it will be interesting in the snow!

I'm not sure what went right last night but I got from Purfleet to Rochford in 50 minutes!

The queue back from Sadlers was only just onto the bottom of the flyover when I went through at just before 6pm. The queue was also moving pretty well. Took me less than 10 mins to get from flyover to new A130(N) turn off.

Of course I'm not silly enough to expect it to be so good tonight but I'll happily celebrate any small win like a world cup triumph at the moment !

(I also had a stroke of enormous luck on the A127 just before the Weir. I managed to sneak past a wide load convoy just before it pulled out to go on the Weir underpass. I got all the way to the Rochford slip at Tesco with barely any traffic following me. I guess the boat they were transporting must have got stuck under the weir!)

just my luck...used the train for the first time in 5 years yesterday...lets hope the flow is good again tonight tho!

backed up to 5 bells again tonight,tarpots looking a way off being finished to at the moment,it will be madness to open bridge on 5th May if Tarpots not finished,
Still unconvinced benfleet and canvey will see any improvement from when it was mini roundabouts.hope i'm wrong