MOTORISTS could be set for 11 weeks of travel chaos because of a lane closure in a busy town centre road.

Essex County Council plans to close the right turn lane on the westbound carriageway of Southway at its junction with Headgate starting from Monday.

 Any commuters wanting to take the turn into Headgate will have to head to the roundabout at Balkerne Hill and perform a u-turn to return to Southway on the opposite carriageway.

Work is expected to continue until the beginning of April.

The roundabout is already heavily clogged at peak times with traffic arriving to and from Lexden Road and Balkerne Hill and onto Maldon Road.

Braintree and Witham Times:

Colchester Retail Business Association chairman Michelle Reynolds said she feared the works would cause massive congestion.

“I would imagine it would cause chaos,” she said.

“Hopefully people will plan ahead, when there has been an emergency road closure in the past queues have been backed up to Magdalen Street but maybe people will avoid it if they know.

“I think if people are coming into town for a long period then they will probably sit and wait but if people are coming in on a whim for 15 minutes then they will probably avoid it.

“It is quite difficult to say how it will be affected before it starts.”

The lane is being closed for the health and safety of the public and engineers while maintenance work is carried out on nearby traffic lights including adding a dedicated cycling phase to the lights which will require part of the road to be dug up.

A spokesman for Essex Highways said: “The traffic lights at the junction of Butt Road and Southway need to be replaced and upgraded as they are one of the oldest sets of lights in Essex.

“We are taking this opportunity to also add a dedicated cycle phase to the new traffic lights system.

“The new system will be more energy efficient and require less regular maintenance.

“The diversion route involves a few hundred yards extra travel round Balkerne Hill roundabout for westbound traffic on Southway wanting to turn right onto Headgate.

“We recognise this may cause some extra congestion at peak times, but we ask for drivers to be patient and allow for this in planning their journeys.”