A LONG-AWAITED project to upgrade a road dubbed Colchester’s worst has finally been signed off.
The Essex County Council project to widen and rebuild   uneven and pothole-ridden Berechurch Road was due to start last September .
A disagreement with Colchester Council over where the money should come from delayed the work.
Now £4.2 million has been earmarked for a rebuilding project, new footpaths and cycle lanes.
Kevin O’Hagan, who was left with a £600 bill after driving through a 2ft wide pothole he thought was a puddle, said the work was long overdue.
Mr O’ Hagan, 44, of Military Road, Colchester, said he no longer used the road after the incident earlier this year.
He said: “It’s about time the work was done because there was going to be a fatality  there one day, because it is a dangerous road.
“The work should have been done about three or four years ago, by all accounts, because it’s been a poor road for some time.
“You can’t always see the hole at night – I didn’t – and someone will come a cropper some day.”
Following years of campaigning by Berechurch councillor Dave Harris, Essex County Council announced work would begin last September.
Lyn Barton, Colchester councillor for transport, said she was delighted the project would soon begin.
She said: “I have spent a number of years lobbying the county council for this and at last it is going to happen.”
Money from builders redeveloping the old Colchester Garrison site will be used.
A  county council spokesman said: “The recently- approved Garrison Section 106 funding expenditure will provide improvements to Berechurch Road and some additional pedestrian, cycleway and bridleway improvements in the  area.’’  
The spokesman could not provide a start date for the work.