ONE of the busiest junctions in Colchester will be completely redesigned in a bid to ease congestion.

The Colne Bank roundabout, at the junction with Westway, Colne Bank Avenue and the Avenue of Remembrance, will be enlarged with slip lanes turning from Westway into the Avenue of Remembrance and from the Avenue of Remembrance into Station Approach.

The scheme will be paid for by money from housing developers, although no date has been set for the work.

Rodney Bass, councillor responsible for highways at Essex County Council, said: “Drivers will know, as I do, getting in to Colchester from the A12 at Spring Lane can be a nightmare.

“You spend however long on the A12 to get to Colchester and sit for half an hour in the Avenue of Remembrance to get into the town.

“The plan is to enlarge the Colne Bank roundabout and create a lane where drivers do not have to wait to turn left from Westway or from the Avenue of Remembrance.”

Mr Bass said the plans mean a pedestrian crossing on the Avenue of Remembrance will have to move, as previously proposed.

He said: “It is too close to the roundabout and it makes sense to find an alternative.”

Mr Bass said although he would prefer people who use the crossing to instead walk along North Station Road before turning right into Colne Bank Avenue and using an underpass into Sheepen Road to get to their destination, officers know many people are used to using the crossing.

The plan is to move the crossing about 200 yards along the road, towards Sheepen Road, as a temporary trial. Its use will be monitored.

Mr Bass said: “These plans should mitigate the start-stop problem.”

He also revealed provisional plans to the Gazette to cut the speed limit along a part of the Avenue of Remembrance, from 60mph to 40mph, between Sheepen Road and the Westway roundabout, saying it would act as a buffer as traffic approaches the junction.