A12 road (England)

UK road routebox
road= A12
length-mi=
length-km=
direction= North-East - South-West
start= London (Blackwall)
destinations= Stratford
Romford
Chelmsford
Colchester
Ipswich
Lowestoft
end= Great Yarmouth
construction-date=
completion-date=
junctions= ukmotorwaysmall|25
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euroroute= European route number sign|30The A12 is a major road in England, a trunk road for most of its length, running from London to Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. The road forms part of the unsigned Euroroute E30. Unlike most A roads, the A12 (together with the A14 and the A55) has junction numbers as if it were a motorway. The 84 km section of the A12 through Essex is widely regarded as a ‘problem’ road [http://www.essexcc.gov.uk/vip8/ecc/ECCWebsite/content/binaries/documents/A12_report_FINAL.pdf?channelOid=null] . It varies unexpectedly between 2-and 3-lanes and has very different standards of width, geometry, access, lighting and lay-bys along its length. For example, a driver going from the M25 to Ipswich on the A12 would experience eight changes between two lanes and three lanes, which are potentially hazardous. In 2007 it was named as Britain's worst road in a survey by Cornhill Insurance.cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6398151.stm|title=Motorists name A12 as worst road|work=BBC News|accessdate=2007-02-26]

Route

Starting just north of the Blackwall Tunnel where it connects end on to the A102, it heads north through Bow, Old Ford and Hackney Wick, then north east through Leyton, Leytonstone, Wanstead, Redbridge, Gants Hill and Romford, then into Essex, passing Brentwood, Chelmsford and Colchester. In Suffolk, it passes Ipswich , Woodbridge and Saxmundham, then follows the coast through Lowestoft before entering Norfolk passing through Gorleston and ending at Great Yarmouth.

London

The section from the Lea Interchange to Leytonstone, which is all dual carriageway, was built in the 1990s following the removal of protestors. The old section as far as Wanstead was rebuilt as a dual carriageway. Prior to that, the A12 started at the Green Man Roundabout at Leytonstone, and was single carriageway west of Wanstead tube station. It now has an underpass at that roundabout, which again is a junction with the old A11. South of the Lea Interchange the road was built in the late 1960s as the East Cross Route and was previously the A102 and A102(M). This section has a triple-layer interchange with the A11 at Bow Road and connects to the A13 at the southern end.

East of Wanstead, the A12 runs roughly due east. It is known as Eastern Avenue, then Eastern Avenue West and Eastern Avenue East, built in the 1920s as a bypass for the section of the Roman road from Colchester to London running through Ilford and Romford (today's A118). The eastern end of the Eastern Avenue is Gallows Corner in the London Borough of Havering, just east of Romford. The junction also marks the start-point of the A127 Southend Arterial Road, also 1920s vintage. At the roundabout, an extemporised two-lane flyover still provides priority for A12 eastbound to A127 traffic (and vice versa). However, the A12 now veers roughly north-eastward, because it starts to follow the course of the Roman road; the Romans started building this road from Colchester, their original capital for the province. However, the 2.5 mile (4 km) stretch from Gallows Corner to the junction with the M25 motorway, called Colchester Road, is still perfectly straight. The M25 junction is number 28; it also marks where the A12 crosses the boundary from London to Essex.

Essex

Originally, the A12 followed the route of the Roman road closely and so was fairly straight, but there are now several town bypasses, so the road through Essex now has several meanders. The A12 formerly went through Brentwood, Mountnessing, Ingatestone, Margaretting, Chelmsford, Boreham, Hatfield Peverel, Witham, Kelvedon, Copford, Stanway and Colchester, but these are all now bypassed, and the A12 is close to motorway standard for its whole length in Essex.

It is this stretch of the A12, particularly between Chelmsford and Colchester, which has led to the poor reputation for surface quality of the A12. This is mainly for its bumpy or potholed surface, mostly due to worn concrete surfaces, especially on the Kelvedon bypass, also between Hatfield Peverel and Witham, and between Copford and Stanway. These bypasses, plus the Chelmsford bypass in its entirety, have still not been replaced with tarmaced roads.

Colchester

Built in 1982, the A12 Colchester bypass provides an uninterrupted dual carriageway where the national speed limit (70 mph / 113 km/h) applies.

Before 1982, the A12 took a route much closer to Colchester itself, and although still a bypass it consisted of urban single carriageways with roundabouts and pedestrian crossings. The old bypass is, of course, still in existence – the western half is now part of the A1124 and the eastern half part of the A133.

uffolk

The Suffolk stretch of the A12 starts with the Capel St Mary by-pass. Originally the route from the Northern end of this bypass ran through the villages of Washbrook and Copdock and into Ipswich. When Ipswich's Southern by-pass was built in the early 1980s, the route picked up from the northern Capel St Mary junction (now numbered 32b), to pass to the West of the original line -- this allowed the relevant ground works and interchanges to be completed with minimal traffic disruption. The old dual carriageway through Washbrook and Copdock is blocked off at White's Corner and was renumbered to be the C475. [cite web|url=http://www.highways.gov.uk/news/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=1039|title=A12 Bentley Longwood interchange (J32B) Roadworks|publisher=Highways Agency|accessdate=2007-02-14] A footpath still exists which enables passage underneath the A14.

Ipswich

The old route through Ipswich was renumbered as the A1214 following construction of the Ipswich Southern By-pass. The old route is more locally known by the road names, notably "London Road" to the Town Centre and Woodbridge Road out the other side.The Ipswich Southern By-pass allows the A12 to overlap the A14 to Seven Hills Interchange, ironically 7 miles from the Copdock junction, where the A12 reappears and heads North. As the A14 the road passes over the large Orwell Bridge with total length of 1,287 metres. This has a summit at 43 meters above the river giving a humped feel with reduced visibility for traffic. There are at-grade roundabout junctions past BT Adastral Park at Martlesham and around the Woodbridge bypass.

For most of its remaining length through Suffolk the A12 is a single carriageway road and in many places its speed limit is less than the national limit, for example as it passes through towns and villages. During 2003/2004 some of these speed restrictions were further reduced from 40mph to 30mph. There are, though, a few stretches of dual carriageway between the Woodbridge bypass and Lowestoft (at Wickham Market, Saxmundham, Wangford and Kessingland).This section of the A12 was detrunked in 2001 as part of the Highways Agency's streamlining of its Trunk Road Network. Control was therefore passed to the local authorities.

Just south of Blythburgh, the old milestone shows it is 100 miles to London.

Lowestoft

The A12 runs through Lowestoft for about 5 miles (8 km) on urban 30 mph (48 km/h) limited roads, however as of June 2006 the A12 now follows the course of the new single carriageway 40 mph Southern Relief Road that joins the original A12 at Lowestoft bascule bridge. A further impediment is the harbour bridge, which has three lanes, the centre lane operating as a one-way addition to whichever direction of flow is deemed greater according to time of day.

An alternative route avoiding Lowestoft is available through Oulton Broad (the town of), but again via urban roads and a bridge (A1117).

The presence of these bridge choke points can cause serious disruption to north-south trunk traffic, especially when local traffic is added during rush hours.

An adequate bypass for Lowestoft would need to be well to the west, even to the west of Oulton Broad (the body of water), and its route would have to consider the great areas of marshland in that area. For that reason an often discussed compromise is a third bridge, crossing Lake Lothing, linking the sections of urban spine-road that run approximately along the western edge of Lowestoft.

Norfolk

Gorleston

From a point just south west of the mouth of the River Yare, northwards to the point where it crosses the River Yare in Great Yarmouth, the A12 now follows the route originally used by the railway line from Lowestoft to its terminus north of Breydon Bridge [cite news|url=http://www.highways.gov.uk/news/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=497|title=A12 at Breydon Bridge, Great Yarmouth, closed on Sunday for safety checks|date=8 March 2005|accessdate=2008-05-13] at Vauxhall Roundabout where the A47 also terminates [cite web|url=http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/frames.htm?mapAction=gaz&gazName=g&gazString=TG516081|title=Get-a-map from Ordnance Survey|accessdate=2008-05-13] .

Improvements underway

Improvements have been made to the junction between the A12 and the M25 to increase slip-road capacity, in particular for clockwise M25 traffic turning north onto the A12, and to ease congestion on the Brook Street Roundabout (serving M25, A12 and local Brentwood traffic as the A1023).cite web|url=http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/3520.aspx|title=M25/A12 Brook Street Interchange, Roadworks|publisher=Highways Agency|accessdate=2007-08-31]

The bascule bridge in Lowestoft, built in 1972,cite web|url=http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/16483.aspx|title=A12 Bascule Bridge Refurbishment - Project Background|accessdate=2008-02-28] is undergoing refurbishment, with works expected to be completed in April 2008. Long closures to traffic have angered local businesses who feel they are losing out on trade.cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/7262636.stm|title=Anger at five-day bridge closure|accessdate=2008-02-28|date=2008-02-25|author=BBC News]

A12 Inquiry

Following an accident on the A12 A12involving acetalyne cylinders which caused the closure of the road and rail link nearby for 10 hours [http://www.eadt.co.uk/content/eadt/news/story.aspx?brand=EADOnline&category=News&tBrand=eadonline&tCategory=News&itemid=IPED05%20Oct%202007%2023%3A10%3A18%3A893] , and following the failure of a new regional funding scheme to bring about major improvements to the A12, Essex County Council Essex County Council announced it would hold an A12 inquiry [http://www.essex.gov.uk/a12inquiry] .

The inquiry was headed by Sir David Rowlands, KCB, a former Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport, and with three of the most eminent transport experts in the country including Professor Stephen Glaister, Dr David Quarmby and Lord Whitty, a former roads minister deciding on how to improve the A12 and prevent the congestion on it estimated by Essex County Council to cost the Essex economy alone tens of millions of pounds. The inquiry began taking submissions in April 2008 and it is intended that its findings will be used to press for improvements to the A12. [cite web|url=http://www.essexcc.gov.uk/vip8/ecc/ECCWebsite/dis/ned.jsp?oid=112332|title=A12 Inquiry, Essex County Council Media Release|accessdate=2008-03-03]

The Inquiry, the first ever local authority sponsored inquiry into a major trunk road, heard from 24 organisations and 36 witnesses over three days including Department for Transport and Highways Agency officials, MPs, local and regional agencies and authorities, the emergency services, business and motoring groups. Comments were also received from over two hundred members of the public and through a petition organised by the Essex Chronicle newspaper.

The commissions finding were published in July 2008 and recommended amond other things a modern 2-Lane upgrade, an “A12 Alliance” to reduce congestion and accidents and an HGV overtaking ban between Marks Tey and Hatfield Peverell.

In more detail the inquiry recommended:

· the A12 as far as Ipswich should be brought up to modern dual 2-lane standards (where not already dual-3), with urgent priority given to the Hatfield Peverel - Marks Tey section

· substandard lay-bys should be replaced; one or more locations off but near the A12 should be identified for secure HGV parking, and an HGV overtaking ban should be trialled

· a wide range of short term practical measures should be introduced to improve safety and reduce driver stress, such as selective speed limits and better information for drivers, and to improve the recovery from incidents and closures

· a New Route Management Strategy should be drawn up by the Highways Agency, in collaboration with local stakeholders, and an ‘A12 Alliance’ should be formed to consolidate and sustain the momentum for improvement

The Inquiry heard arguments for widening the A12 to dual 3-lane throughout its length but was unable to recommend this. Whether the A12 continues to be classified by the Department for Transport as a trunk road of ‘regional’ rather than ‘national’ significance, or whether (as the Commission recommends) the Department reconsiders the classification, the Commission concludes that there is little prospect of funding being made available for such a scheme. The Commission therefore recommends concentrating on medium-size packages to address the A12’s more serious difficulties, together with a programme of short term practical measures.

The Inquiry found that the A12 has been closed on average somewhere over its length between the M25 and the Copdock Interchange more than once a fortnight for an average of three and a half hours at a time.

The Inquiry also found that these closure periods can be as high as six to seven hours, and on one famous occasion more than 24 hours. This means that – on a 6am to 10pm day – there is at any one time a 1 in 30 chance that the A12 is closed somewhere along its length

Comprehensive improvement to dual 3-lane standard

Many witnesses argued the A12 should be widened to three lanes as far as Colchester, as proposed in 2002 in a Government sponsored study. However the Inquiry was unable to recommend this. The A12 is classified by the Department for Transport as of “regional” significance and the Commission concluded there is no prospect of the East of England Region funding the £800 million to £1 billion cost of upgrading to dual-3 at any time in the foreseeable future. Nor did it have access to up to date analyses of costs and benefits which might justify such expenditure.

The Commission recommends the Department should reconsider the current classification of the A12 as a trunk road of only “regional” significance. The Department should in particular take into account developments at Felixstowe and Bathside Bay (Harwich) ports.

However reclassification would not of itself mean priority funding. Instead of focussing on promoting dual-3 solutions the Commission therefore recommends concentrating on the development of medium-size packages to address the A12’s more serious difficulties which can then be promoted for funding by the East of England Region.

New Route Management Strategy

The Commission believes much can be done to improve the A12 short of widening to dual-3 but that it requires a New Route Management Strategy otherwise the current piecemeal approach to improvements will continue. The key elements of a new strategy, as set out in the recommendations, include:

· Bringing the A12 as far as Ipswich, where it is not dual-3, up to modern dual-2 standard with 9.9 metre wide carriageways and with lay-bys and on and off-slip roads up to current standards, (this would mean the dual-2 sections throughout Essex and into Suffolk would be of a consistent standard with offside and wide nearside hard strips and the capability to set up adequate contraflow arrangements for maintenance and following major incidents).

· Prioritising schemes to achieve this. The top priority should be the section from Hatfield Peverel to Marks Tey.

· Eliminating substandard lay-bys and replacing them with properly sited replacements built to current standards.

· Identifying one or more locations off but near the A12 for secure HGV parking

· Addressing hazards caused by accesses from private properties, services and farms.

· Prioritising the A12 for a comprehensive approach to traffic management with CCTV, Variable Message Signs, information on diversionary routes, etc.

The Commission additionally recommends the creation of an ‘A12 Alliance’ to bring together the Highways Agency with key stakeholders and to charge this Alliance with assisting the HA in the production and delivery of a New Route Management Strategy.

More immediate measures

The Commission makes a substantial number of other recommendations which can be implemented fairly quickly to improve management and operational aspects of the road. They include:

· A new initiative to encourage more travel planning by employers in Essex

· Consideration of additional signage warning of hazards and lane changes particularly at Mountnessing, and the possibility of a 60 mph speed limit through the junction there

· A trial HGV overtaking ban on the section between Hatfield Peverel and Marks Tey

· Urgent consideration of a 60mph speed limit on the Hatfield Peverel to Marks Tey section until it is improved to modern dual 2-lane standards

· Regular enforcement campaigns on the A12 to educate drivers on good practice and to clamp down on poor and illegal driving behaviour

· Introducing Highways Agency traffic officers for a three year pilot to assist with management of traffic and incidents

· Providing ‘gates’ in the central reservation barrier to allow contraflows and to clear vehicles trapped by an incident

· Identifying locations for extra Variable Message Signs to warn drivers of incidents on the A12 and advise them of diversions

· Consulting with local residents on steps to remove or divert rights of way across the A12.

Proposed improvements

Proposals are in place to improve the A120 between Braintree and the junction with the A12cite web|url=http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/4182.aspx|title=A120 Braintree to Marks Tey|accessdate=2008-02-28] . As of February 2008 the East of England Regional Assembly prioritised the scheme for start of works in the 2011/12 – 2015/16 period, with completion post 2016.

References

External links

* [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/roadlists/f99/12.shtml Society for All British Road Enthusiasts entry for the A12]
* [http://www.milestonesweb.com/sites/tm454765.htm Henham Park, 100 miles to London] — Milestone Web