DRIVERS hoping to see the roads back to normal after last week’s snow have been hit by more chaos as roadworks brought major routes to a standstill.

Roadworks on the A13 in Benfleet has kept drivers in traffic for up to an hour on surrounding routes.

Delays were predicted for the last six days on London Road while UK Power Networks excavated part of the highway to fix a fault with the electrical mains.

The essential works were to repair cables which had affected residents’ electric supply.

Appleton ward Ukip councillor Alan Bayley said: “I received a phone call from the electric company saying they were trying to put it right but if it couldn’t be fixed, the road would have to be dug up.

“However, it’s been causing terrible tailbacks going into Benfleet. I got stuck in it on Monday. It blocked up the road past the Sadlers Farm roundabout and so it took me 45 minutes to get from Pitsea to Benfleet, which would usually take just five minutes.

“Once you passed the problem, away you went, but it’s caused a hell of a lot of traffic all day long.

“I hope the works do actually finish today as it can’t keep going on like this.”

Over the past few days motorists venting their frustration over Twitter have said the A130 – a major road linking Chelmsford with much of south Essex – has also been hit.

Airport passengers travelling to Southend and Stansted were also impacted because of the late-running X30 bus service.

St Peter’s ward councillor Bill Dick says the works have had far reaching consequences, causing congestion further afield in Southend and into Basildon.

He said: “It’s been blocked up everywhere. The A127 and the A13 have been blocked up each morning because it tends to have a knock-on effect.

“On Tuesday morning I drove to a meeting in Rayleigh and it was chaos.

“It’s been quite a disaster around here and that’s without the snow.”

Kirsty Saunders, 26, who commutes to Basildon every day, was in disbelief.

“I couldn’t believe how bad it has been,” she said.

“The A130 near Sadler’s Farm was at a standstill, and the A127 was really slow too.

“I didn’t know what it was until I saw someone on Facebook saying about the Benfleet roadworks.

“I’ve been late every day to work this week because of it and so have loads of other people I work with.

“Thankfully our boss is quite understanding but it’s ridiculous that one set of roadworks can cause this much carnage.”

Lucky enough to not use the road each day, Brad Simpson spent an hour trying to get off Canvey and got stuck again heading home.

The 41-year-old said: “That was at 9.30am and it was horrendous.

“I don’t understand why everything has gone to a standstill.”

Driving from Laindon to Hadleigh took Robert Townsend an hour one night as opposed to 15 minutes.

But his friend drove for 90 minutes.

He said this is proof the Saddlers Farm junction is flawed.

He said: “Anyone wanting to get to Canvey was stuck.

“Why is there a lack of yellow boxes? It’s impossible to get off London Road from Pitsea because again, there are no boxes.

“The A13 should be three lanes so Canvey has its own lane.”

Next week marks the beginning of the A13/A130 Saddlers Farm Bridge scheme.

Drivers are hoping they will be spared too much disruption when the stretch of road between Pitsea to Rayleigh Spur is closed overnight between 9pm and 6am.

While temporary barriers are installed there will be a 50mph speed limit in place.