DREADED closures on the A12 are set to return for more than 30 nights starting next Friday.

National Highways has announced the latest raft of overnight closures – all of which will run from 8pm to 6am – as it looks to finish the A12 reconstruction scheme in time for the August bank holiday.

The next set of overnight closures will begin on Friday, April 12 and run until Friday, April 19 when the A12 southbound will be fully closed from junction 26 Stanway to junction 25 Marks Tey.

Traffic will be diverted along London Road before re-joining the A12 at junction 25 Marks Tey entry slip road.

Gazette: Reorganised – traffic management will be rearranged overnight whilst the closures are in placeReorganised – traffic management will be rearranged overnight whilst the closures are in place (Image: National Highways)

The day after those overnight closures finish, a new set of closures will begin and last for four weeks.

From Saturday, April 20, there will be a full closure of the A12 southbound entry slip at junction 26, Stanway until Saturday, May 17.

Over that period, traffic will join the A12 northbound at junction 26 Stanway and travel to junction 27 before re-joining the A12 southbound at the junction 27 entry slip road.

Another set of overnight roadworks will run simultaneously, with the A12 southbound carriageway between junction 26 Stanway and junction 25 Marks Tey closing from Sunday, April 21 to Friday, April 26.

During the closures, National Highways will change the traffic management system so the remaining lane can be reconstructed in what has been described as “a significant milestone” for the project.

Once the traffic management change is completed, National Highways workers will spend four weeks upgrading the slip roads.

Gazette: Queues – the announcement of further closures will be frustrating for thousands of driversQueues – the announcement of further closures will be frustrating for thousands of drivers (Image: Newsquest)

It means that there will be overnight closures almost every single evening from Monday, April 12 until Saturday, May 17.

Further works are expected over summer, with National Highways stating they have planned nine weekends of closures throughout June, July, and August.

National Highways has also addressed the issues of HGV drivers using rat runs overnight to avoid queues.

A spokesman said: "We’re aware of the concerns that have been voiced by local residents regarding some motorists using smaller, local roads during our closures.

“We ask drivers not to ‘rat run’ during the closure, as this can impact local communities."

National Highways is contactable on 0300-123-5000 or info@nationalhighways.co.uk.