NEW figures have revealed the five most chaotic roads for commuters across Braintree town centre.

A Freedom of Information request submitted by the Times to Essex County Council has disclosed all of the roadworks that were conducted in the district throughout 2016.

In total more than 400 sets of works took place in the Braintree and Bocking area of the town last year, with Coggeshall Road, Rayne Road, Panfield Lane, Cressing Road and South Street being the most regularly affected.

Coggeshall Road endured 41 sets of works during 2016, with carriageway patching being completed on seven occasions.

Temporary traffic lights were regularly installed, causing major disruption.

Alan Holden, owner of Alcars Ltd, said Coggeshall Road had been a nightmare.

He said: “There has been loads recently, within two or three weeks there was just one after another.

"Of course these roadworks have to be done but the roads don’t even seem to be being repaired.

“The state of South Street is terrible at the moment and if there are delays there it causes problems all around the town.

“The roadworks slow our drivers down and that has a knock on effect for customers as well as it costs them more for their journeys.

"Things are bad enough around Braintree without the roadworks.”

In Manor Street, overrunning gas works dragged on for three months longer than they should.

South Street saw 10 roadworks schemes in 2016, six of which were conducted by Anglian Water.

Ross Blake, owner of Essex Reptiles on South Street, said: “We definitely notice a difference during roadworks of up to 25 per cent of our trade.

"When there are roadworks we find people coming from down the road cannot turn in.

"I have seen some people get bored of waiting and just drive on.

“People also do not even bother driving down South Street.

“I avoid driving down Coggeshall Road every day because it is so bad, I will go two miles out of my way to avoid the road.

"When the roadworks were taking place on Manor Street the buses were rerouted which had a knock on effect on South Street.”

Rayne Road, which leads to the Springwood Industrial Estate, had 22 works schemes conducted during 2016, with just two being carriageway patching.

Ruby Zammit, sales manager of Bluemanor Windows on Rayne Road, said: “The roadworks certainly have an affect on our business.

"It was an absolute nightmare when they had them here a few weeks ago because people were blocking the entrance and we had customers that could not come in.

“It is part and parcel of us being here unfortunately. We knew it was a busy road when we moved here.

"Generally I think Rayne Road is in a better state than most other roads in Braintree.”

Reasons for the works vary, with the most common being pipework repairs and installation and carriageway patching.

Andy Farrow, owner of Chameleon Costumes on the Springwood Industrial Estate, said traffic was the biggest talking point around the estate.

He said: “Our biggest problem on the industrial estate is getting off during peak hours.

“Anything like roadworks on Rayne Road has a knock on effect to the businesses on the industrial estate.

"It affects my customers certainly. I have had it take customers an hour to get just down the estate before.”