Sadlers Farm, A13 and A130

[michaelbri]

i don't know if anyone still posts,but as predicted sadlers farm appears IMO to be the biggest waste of 65million i can think of .Very simply i predict this time next year it will back up back to Pisea flyover again.
problem 1,the traffic from bowers is now piling onto the roundabout unrestricted it would appear with just a hit and hope merge.
problem 2,the lights are hugely biased in favour of traffic from A130 ,whilst the traffic piles up past sadlers bridge now,at most 2 or 3 cars weight from A130.
problem 3 tarpots is hopeless,with the right turn lane hopelessly undercapacity and clearly the volume of traffic turning right into the high road was vastly underestimated.

Two things need to happen.Roundabouts need go back into tarpots and the lights at Sadlers need to reflect traffic volumes .They also need to operate correctly all the way round.
The whole thing was poorly designed anyway,the result of which can now be seen

[Sunil_of_Yoxley]

Michael, well I'm not surprised Tarpots is still a bottle-neck. I hope to walk along the Sadlers to Hadleigh section this summer and hope to see how it functions - er this is part of an attempt to walk the entire length of the A13 as designated in 1922.

I should have posted these three months ago, as I took them on 8th April but anyway, a final look at the completed(?!) works between Pitsea and the roundabout at Sadlers:

A13 looking west from Church Road




A13 looking east from Church Road




Link Road looking north




Link Road looking south




And the roundabout itself:

B1464 approach


A13 E exit


A130 N exit





More views of Sadlers from the B1464



Sadlers Farm building itself

[Runwell]

Incredibly, Sunil, the project is still not technically complete! Roads wise it is long since done, but as your 7th photo shows, still huge amounts of spoil to redistribute. Those mounds are pretty much still there, as is most of the old works site and part of the old B1464 diversion. Who knows when it will finally be done?
They still also need to complete the kerbing and footway by the site entrance (presumably once finally churned up?). All work was supposed to finish March 2012! It was only in April that the footway from the Rushbottom Lane subway to the layby beside the n/b A130 finally opened, followed at last, weeks later, by the Church Road subway. They are only just finishing restoring the land beside the e/b A13 too. Your 5th and 6th photos show them finally repairing the broken wall adjoining the school at the top of the soil cut slope, which had been temporarily fenced off for a couple of years.

i don't know if anyone still posts,but as predicted sadlers farm appears IMO to be the biggest waste of 65million i can think of .Very simply i predict this time next year it will back up back to Pisea flyover again.

It seems to work well, considering it used to tail back past Five Bells. The problem seems to be the new lights at Tarpots. Otherwise the roundabout would not get blocked up along the northern edge, and traffic from the B1464 would flow freely.
problem 1,the traffic from bowers is now piling onto the roundabout unrestricted it would appear with just a hit and hope merge. Of course the improvements to Sadlers have allowed traffic going eastwards to arrive there sooner...

problem 2,the lights are hugely biased in favour of traffic from A130 ,whilst the traffic piles up past sadlers bridge now,at most 2 or 3 cars weight from A130.

Not a huge delay compared to other areas, although as previously mentioned, the Tarpots lights could do with tweaking. I have not particularly noticed any bias towards the lights on the busy A130 arm.

problem 3 tarpots is hopeless,with the right turn lane hopelessly undercapacity and clearly the volume of traffic turning right into the high road was vastly underestimated.

Trouble is how do you widen that right turn lane with the street space available? I would personally give traffic that priority light in full to turn right into the High Road without any give way waiting time, especially during evening rush.

Two things need to happen.Roundabouts need go back into tarpots and the lights at Sadlers need to reflect traffic volumes .They also need to operate correctly all the way round.
The whole thing was poorly designed anyway,the result of which can now be seen

Not really, as previously mentioned, although Tarpots does need tweaking. Some proactivity from ECC is required, but not another plan for reconstruction. With increasing traffic volumes, those double mini-roundabouts would be even more unsafe than they were already.

[Fenlander]

Only 3 years until Rio, will it be finished in time?

[Sunil_of_Yoxley]

Thanks for the update Runwell! I must clarify my pics were from back in early April. Should be walking from Pitsea to Castle Point council offices tomorrow (Wednesday) as part of my attempt to walk the 1922 route of the A13 (so far this summer I've done Castle Point council to Shoeburyness station - though not all at once!).

On an unrelated note, for the first time tried out the new A130, from the A132 to A127, at the weekend coming back from Tropical Wings Zoo, which I believe is not too far from you. We drove out via the A127 and A132 via Wickford.

[Sunil_of_Yoxley]

I walked along the B1464 eastward from Pitsea on Wednesday and saw that the mounds to the west of the Link Road are still there in large part, but also saw Link Road lane 1 heading to London was coned off during the early afternoon. Probably was too early in the day to see any hold-ups at Tarpots but it was interesting to see the lack of the double-mini (I last walked east of there up the hill in 2007).

[Runwell]

Those restrictions are unrelated. National Grid are upgrading those huge pylons in the area. Work started earlier in the summer but was halted due to a colony of feathered friends being discovered. The restrictions have just gone back in, so presumably that is no longer an issue. Likely to remain until October but shouldn't cause any real delays. Looks to me like the clear up of that Sadlers works HQ has stopped whilst NG work goes on?

[michaelbri]

updates.The situation is now getting ridiculous.The traffic went back to 5 bells when the work was taking place.When the 6 roundabouts were in place ,it went back to Pitse Flyover.So Runwell,IMO now it is going back to Pitsea ,after only 12 months,then to me this is as predicted a total failure.You now have the sight of people using the link road to cut in at the last minute.The lights are on red far too long on the A13,.There is a major issue i agree from the B1464 ,where traffic is just piling onto the roundabout also.
Tarpots is worse than ever .I did notice today,traffic light works being done,i am hoping they are going to try and make this so called "scoot" work properly.

[Ritchie333]

Last week, I drove from Chelmsford to the Dartford Crossing via the A130, Sadler's and A13. Absolutely hassle free, no holdups, a good alternative to the A12. Job well done!

[zipdip]

Hi used this new road junction at the weekend,what a improvement,lived near this for a number of years and it was a complete pain to use but this flyover and re-design has made this much easier to use.

[Jamesabout29]

updates.The situation is now getting ridiculous.The traffic went back to 5 bells when the work was taking place.When the 6 roundabouts were in place ,it went back to Pitse Flyover.So Runwell,IMO now it is going back to Pitsea ,after only 12 months,then to me this is as predicted a total failure.You now have the sight of people using the link road to cut in at the last minute.The lights are on red far too long on the A13,.There is a major issue i agree from the B1464 ,where traffic is just piling onto the roundabout also.
Tarpots is worse than ever .I did notice today,traffic light works being done,i am hoping they are going to try and make this so called "scoot" work properly.

Argh! Tell me about it! I live about 3/4 of a mile away so know what it's like.

[echowarning]

I have not, since the link opened, been caught in any major hold-ups on the A13E-A130N or A130S-A13W.

If you're taking any other route - enjoy your jams. Too much traffic leaves Canvey or enters South Benfleet for the surrounding roads to cope...

Great junction, but there is only one D2 road into Southend and the A127 is already at capacity.

An improvement for many, but alas, Tarpots is busy and always will be!

[Sunil_of_Yoxley]

On Wednesday, I walked from Five Bells to Tarpots via the old A13 (B1464) and decided to see if the subway under the new A13 at New Church Road was open - to my pleasant surprise it was! Albeit with a few workmen adding finishing touches. But what was even more of a surprise was being able to continue walking east via the new footpath along the westbound A13 up to Sadlers, crossing over the A130(S) and continuing via the non-primary A13 to Tarpots! That was new for me (I always used to walk the B1464, cross the A130(N) and then continue to Tarpots). There was one lane in each direction on the A13/A130 Link coned off however. Hope to add some pics soon! I didn't check out the mounds near the former works HQ along the B1464, but the week before, from a no. 28 bus, I did see them flattened out at long last.

[michaelbri]

I have not, since the link opened, been caught in any major hold-ups on the A13E-A130N or A130S-A13W.

If you're taking any other route - enjoy your jams. Too much traffic leaves Canvey or enters South Benfleet for the surrounding roads to cope...

Great junction, but there is only one D2 road into Southend and the A127 is already at capacity.

An improvement for many, but alas, Tarpots is busy and always will be!

i think that is it in a nutshell,the ONLY people who benefit are those that live outside of the borough that put up with the chaos for the end result of no better if you live in Benfleet or Canvey.Been saying it since the project started and doubtful anything will change my opinion.Until the local roads are made to match the dense population,schemes like this will often fail.

[Joe_Flyover]

If it was upto me Id run a distributor road directly from the A13 to the south of Leigh, with exits for S.Benfleet, Hadleigh and Leigh running alongside the railway line, I think this is the only way to remove a decent amount of traffic from the A13/A130 roundabout.(Not familiar with the area, I assume thats what 'Tarpots' refers to)

Good pics though, as a D4 it does look mighty nice, i have to concede that.

[c2R]

i think that is it in a nutshell,the ONLY people who benefit are those that live outside of the borough that put up with the chaos for the end result of no better if you live in Benfleet or Canvey.Been saying it since the project started and doubtful anything will change my opinion.Until the local roads are made to match the dense population,schemes like this will often fail.

Okay, by Tarpots I'm guessing you're referring to the pub on the A13 non-primary London Road going into the Benfleet urbanisation? And you're thinking that the scheme was to help the comparatively few people that live there? And because it hasn't, you're judging the scheme a failure, and continuing to complain about it? Essentially, it's tough for you really... as the scheme is part of improving the primary road network in Essex. It also provides for an alternative route for longer distance traffic in avoiding the A12 and M25. Having changed my routing when I'm in the area to now go that way instead of the A12/M25 and experienced no delays, I'd say the scheme was a resounding success.

[Ritchie333]

the ONLY people who benefit are those that live outside of the borough that put up with the chaos for the end result of no better if you live in Benfleet or Canvey.

And? The M25 doesn't benefit people who live in central London but it's still a good idea. Fact of the matter is that small groups of people hold this country to ransom because they can't see how something that impedes them whilst helping orders of magnitude more people is actually a good idea.

[Runwell]

Yes, in spite of the shambles in getting the work completed (it is STILL not technically complete), the project has massively improved the local area. There is no comparison to the delays that were there before.

The fact that it's busier now getting on to Canvey and busier around the Sadlers Farm roundabout (and on to Tarpots) shows the project has been successful, as traffic now gets to the roundabout far quicker. The problems with traffic on Canvey will only be solved with some tweaks to the Waterside roundabout (B1014 junction) and in particular a third road off Canvey linking to the Manorway at Coryton.

Just to throw my two pennyth in about Tarpots. Been through this a handful of times at evening rush hour recently. Delays were no more than five minutes. The main problem was mainly a few idiotic drivers blocking some of the Sadlers Farm roundabout exits. Once onto the non-primary A13 it ran quite smoothly through Tarpots, considering the amount of traffic it has to deal with. I know many traffic light junctions far busier than Tarpots, even in the local patch.

updates.The situation is now getting ridiculous.The traffic went back to 5 bells when the work was taking place.When the 6 roundabouts were in place ,it went back to Pitse Flyover.So Runwell,IMO now it is going back to Pitsea ,after only 12 months,then to me this is as predicted a total failure.You now have the sight of people using the link road to cut in at the last minute.The lights are on red far too long on the A13,.There is a major issue i agree from the B1464 ,where traffic is just piling onto the roundabout also.
Tarpots is worse than ever .I did notice today,traffic light works being done,i am hoping they are going to try and make this so called "scoot" work properly.

Wrong, Michael. It pretty much always queued from the on-slip from Five Bells, right through to Sadlers Farm. The 'Queues Likely' sign by the Five Bells overbridge that's been there for years is a clue.

I have still yet to witness any queues back to Pitsea Flyover. The only problem I have seen from there towards the link road split is many mindless drivers ignoring the temporary 50 signs and making it a real hazard to filter into the correct lanes, with the Pitsea on-slip and link road split less than a mile apart. No wonder people are cutting in (rightly or wrongly) to the link road at the last second.

I would agree re the B1464. It's not due to traffic using the road. It's because the traffic is blocked by drivers on the Sadlers roundabout. Would like to see some hatched markings along there. Otherwise it runs very well indeed.

[Runwell]

On Wednesday, I walked from Five Bells to Tarpots via the old A13 (B1464) and decided to see if the subway under the new A13 at New Church Road was open - to my pleasant surprise it was! Albeit with a few workmen adding finishing touches. But what was even more of a surprise was being able to continue walking east via the new footpath along the westbound A13 up to Sadlers, crossing over the A130(S) and continuing via the non-primary A13 to Tarpots! That was new for me (I always used to walk the B1464, cross the A130(N) and then continue to Tarpots). There was one lane in each direction on the A13/A130 Link coned off however. Hope to add some pics soon! I didn't check out the mounds near the former works HQ along the B1464, but the week before, from a no. 28 bus, I did see them flattened out at long last.

Yes, the mounds of rubble have finally gone completely. Once the National Grid works finished they finally moved in to clear it up, and the land is pretty much back to arable, minus a few style fences. Some of the Sadlers Works HQ has also been dug up now, although part of it remains, and by the looks of the stocks of materials there, there seems to be a lot of fencing etc to erect. Works cars are now confined to the remaining short stretch of the former B1464 diversion, due to the reduction in area of the works HQ.

The subway has actually been (belatedly) open since April. There have just been various additional minor works in recent weeks around the Church Road and Rushbottom Lane (Thundersley) subways, and the new footpath parallel to the A130(N).

Went along the Sadlers route at the weekend, and the surprise lane closures that have been in place for the last 3-4 weeks, although the 50 limits recently reinstated remained on the link road, A13(E) from before Pitsea Flyover, and the A130(S).
Lots of new excavations in the central reservation, as well as the laying of green asphalt, including onto the junction islands. Incredible the work is now 19 months behind schedule.

[Sunil_of_Yoxley]

A couple of shots from the pathway along the w/bound A13 between Church Road subway and Sadlers (taken 9th October):