A12 concrete surface reconstruction, repairs and maintenance

We're carrying out repairs and maintenance on stretches of concrete surface along much of the A12. The work includes including repairing or removing and replacing the current concrete road surface, clearing drains, repainting road markings and new reflective studs (cat's eyes).

The East region has the highest concentration of concrete roads on our road network, including the A14, A12, A120, A11 and M11.

Around half of the old-style concrete roads will either have repairs or will be replaced during the next five years.

We’ll be using new ways and new technology to provide a modern road that will last for decades to come. This will also make it easier and quicker for us to repair in future.

To find out more about our nationwide Concrete Roads work please visit our programme page.

Why we need these schemes

The surface of concrete roads that were designed between the 1950s and 1970s have an average life span of 50 years. Their surfaces are now reaching the stage where they will need to be repaired or replaced for safety reasons, and to help them be less noisy and better to drive on.

In late 2020, we made repairs to the A12 road surface between junction 22 and junction 24 in both directions. During early 2021, we resurfaced the A12 southbound main carriageway between junctions 27 to 26 and also repaired the road surface at the slip roads at junction 27. We also made repairs to the A12 between junctions 15 and 19 during 2021, and there was more resurfacing and other maintenance work scheduled during 2022 on other stretches of this road.

We are now focusing on rebuilding sections of the A12, including removing the old concrete road surface and replacing it with a new asphalt surface.

Information on our current concrete road reconstruction projects at Margaretting and Marks Tey are available here:

A12 junction 25 Marks Tey to junction 26 Stanway

A12 Margaretting Bypass

Benefits

Our road repairs will help improve the safety of the road surface. It is essential that we complete repairs to the potholes and cracking to ensure a smoother and safer ride on the A12. Once complete, we expect the life of the road surface to be extended by up to 10 more years.

Project information

Construction started 19 July 2021.

Completion December 2021.

Estimated cost £15 million

We have carried out repairs to the existing north and south bound concrete road surface along the A12 from junction 15 Webb Farm Interchange to junction 19 Boreham Interchange. The work included repairs to the concrete road surface, repainting white lining and replacing road studs (cat’s eyes). More information about the work carried out is available in the final scheme newsletter.

While the road was closed, alongside the road surface repairs, we also took the opportunity to do routine maintenance jobs, such as tidying the verges, emptying the drains, road sweeping and checking and tightening the central reservation safety barriers.

Started February 2021

Completed March 2021

Cost £1.2 million

From Wednesday 17 February 2021, we made repairs to the concrete surface on the A12 at junction 27 Spring Lane.

The work took around four weeks, and we also cleared drains, repainted road markings, and inserted new reflective road studs (cat’s eyes). At the same time, we resurfaced the A12 southbound carriageway between junction 27 and 26. You can read about this project in our March A12 newsletter.

Started November 2020

Completed December 2020

Cost £3.2 million

During November and December 2020, we resurfaced and repaired potholes and cracks in the concrete road surface on the A12 main carriageway between junction 22 and junction 24 in both the northbound and southbound directions. You can read about the work we did in our two newsletters:

We changed our initial approach to take advantage of the reduced traffic as a result of Covid 19 lockdown restrictions. We were able to complete the work earlier to avoid disruption in December, supporting people with Christmas shopping and other journeys, and to help fuel the economy.