MULTI-MILLION pound roadworks on the A12 have been the bane of commuters who head in and out of Colchester on a daily basis.

And the message the repairs will make journeys smoother and more efficient in the long run is starting to wear more than a little thin – particularly after the issues people experienced on Monday.

Drivers had to endure several miles of tailbacks which had been caused by faulty tarmac laid in the early hours.

Although National Highways did not expand on what the fault with the tarmac actually was, what people know for certain is it caused chaos all day long.

Hundreds of cars on the northbound side of the carriageway had to squeeze into just one lane, with some drivers saying the lane closures added two hours onto their usual journey time.

The reaction from our readers to the chaos was one of unbridled fury, and although many pointed the finger at Essex Highways, these works are in fact being undertaken by the government-owned National Highways, which was formerly known as Highways England until 2021.

The company has a budget of £24 billion over the period running from 2020 to 2025, and £400 million of that budget is going towards replacing concrete roads with tarmac surfaces.

That is exactly what is happening on the A12, with National Highways East aiming to complete the resurfacing works on the road by the spring with a budget of about £37 million.

But the hope of completion was not enough for motorists on Monday, with one gentleman commenting: “All these people who keep saying once it’s done it’ll be much better...

“Yes, the surface will be a lot nicer to drive on but that’s until they decide to chew some up again because of unforeseen maintenance afterwards, not forgetting the appalling driving habits of drivers and volume of traffic that will remain the same.

“I don’t see much changing really apart from a nicer surface.”

Colin Donnelly added: “We can moan as much as we like but they will come up with excuse after excuse.”

Tracy Bryden got stuck in the traffic on the way to Colchester Hospital, writing: “Stuck in it trying to get to Colchester General Hospital – soul destroying.

“Still tailed back to Kelvedon at 9.30pm – disgraceful.”

Trevor Hyams, meanwhile, gave his prediction as to when the works would be finished.

He wrote: “The whole thing is a joke – it won't be finished until 2025.”

In order to ensure smoother journeys for motorists on Tuesday, an emergency closure was put in place overnight on Monday evening to allow for the issue to be fixed.

A spokesman for National Highways said: "We are sorry for any inconvenience."