Chelmsford Roadworks: A12 Shut Nightly, Swiss Avenue Closed

Where Chelmsford roadworks stand on Tuesday 22 September, checked against the orders and the closure reports themselves.

The A12 northbound is shut every night this week, and Friday is new. National Highways’ closure report now covers Monday 21 to Sunday 27 September. It puts the junction 19 to junction 25 carriageway closure on five consecutive nights, 9pm to 5am, from Monday night through to Friday night. Every previous week of this stage stopped at Thursday.

Swiss Avenue is now closed. Cadent began replacing 250 metres of gas main in Kings Road, Swiss Avenue and Park Avenue on Monday 21 September. The county council’s order gives the closure 15 days, so it should come off in the first week of October.

The A130 towards Southend can be resurfaced from Thursday. The order covering five-kilometre lengths of the dual carriageway south of the city takes effect on 24 September. It sets no phase dates at all, which is the part to plan around.

The daytime restrictions have not changed. The A12 from junction 19 to junction 25 has been a 50mph road, all day, every day, since Tuesday 1 September. That covers both directions and every slip road. Every lay-by along it is closed too. The order says the works run for about three months.

The A12 order says more than the scheme page does

National Highways’ public page for the A12 Chelmsford to Colchester maintenance still describes the job as closures “on weeknights only, between 9pm and 5am”. It lists the current stage as “Monday 14 September to Friday 9 October - A12 northbound between junction 19 to junction 25” (National Highways). That is unchanged since our last check, and it is now wrong in one respect: the closure report has a Friday night in it.

The statutory notice it published in the Essex Chronicle on 20 August says something wider. The order took effect on 1 September and allows all of this between junction 19 and junction 25:

• a 50mph speed limit, for 24 hours a day, on both carriageways and all slip roads
• all lay-bys closed, for 24 hours a day
• full weekend closures, 9pm Friday to 5am Monday, of varying lengths, starting on or after Friday 4 September
• overnight closure of the A12 northbound exit slip at junction 20A, Hatfield Peverel, 8pm to 5am, starting on or after Monday 28 September

The order runs for a maximum of 18 months or until the work is finished, whichever comes first (National Highways notice, Essex Chronicle, 20 August 2026).

Two things are worth being precise about. A traffic order is permission, not a timetable: the notice says the restrictions apply only where and when traffic signs show them. And no full weekend closure, the 9pm Friday to 5am Monday kind, has yet appeared on any closure report. Four weeks into the order those powers still have not been used, and none is listed for the coming weekend either.

Where the diversion goes

When the A12 does shut between those junctions, northbound traffic leaves at junction 19, the Boreham Interchange, runs up the A131 to Great Notley, then east along the A120 to rejoin at junction 25. Southbound traffic does the same in reverse.

That is why a closure east of the city lands on Chelmsford. The diversion pours unfamiliar traffic onto the A131 and around Boreham for the hours it is in force.

What is actually shut this week

National Highways publishes a seven-day closure report as a spreadsheet, one sheet per day. We downloaded the current one on Tuesday 22 September. It covers Monday 21 to Sunday 27 September (National Highways).

The Chelmsford stretch has one closure in it, and it now runs five nights rather than four:

• A12 northbound, junction 19 Boreham to junction 25 Marks Tey: carriageway closed 9pm to 5am on the nights starting Monday 21, Tuesday 22, Wednesday 23, Thursday 24 and Friday 25 September, for carriageway reconstruction
• nothing on Saturday 26 or Sunday 27 September, in either direction

That Friday is the change. Every week of this stage so far has stopped at Thursday night, and the scheme page still says the work happens “on weeknights only”. The closure ends at 5am on Saturday, so it is a Friday night job rather than the full weekend closure the order also permits.

The A12 entries east of Colchester will not send traffic through here:

• A12 southbound, junction 29 to junction 28: 9pm to 5am on the nights starting Thursday 24 and Friday 25 September, for road markings
• A120 westbound at the Crown Interchange, junction 29: the carriageway on the nights starting Monday 21 and Tuesday 22, and the entry slip on Wednesday 23 September, all 9pm to 5am

Two others in the report are easy to misread. The A414 closure is in Hertfordshire, at Park Street, not the Essex A414 through Maldon, and this week it runs all weekend, from 8pm on Friday 25 to 6am on Monday 28 September. The M11 northbound is shut between junctions 4 and 6 from 10pm to 5.30am on each night from Monday 21 to Friday 25 September, which matters if you drive to Stansted, but it is not a Chelmsford diversion route.

The A12 widening is still cancelled

For years the answer to A12 congestion around Chelmsford was the junction 19 to junction 25 widening scheme: two lanes to three, junctions 20a, 20b and 23 removed, two bypasses, roughly £1.2 billion. It received development consent on 12 January 2024.

It was then cancelled. National Highways’ page for the scheme reads: “Following the conclusion of the Spending Review, the Government has taken the decision to cancel the A12 Chelmsford to A120 scheme,” in an update dated 1 August 2025 (National Highways).

What replaced it is smaller and local. Essex county councillors approved the £38 million Beaulieu Access Package on 31 July 2026, upgrading the A12 and the Beaulieu Park station roundabout. The council says it “comes after the government cancelled its scheme to widen the A12”, and that most of the money will come from Homes England, National Highways and developer contributions (Essex County Council).

Swiss Avenue: shut since Monday, and two details still do not match

Cadent started work on Monday 21 September. It is replacing 250 metres of gas main in Kings Road, Swiss Avenue and the street next to them. The pipes are around 75 years old (Cadent).

What Cadent says is happening:

• work runs from Monday 21 September to Monday 12 October
• Swiss Avenue is closed while the work takes place, with signed diversions and access kept for residents
• traffic lights are in use on Kings Road
• gas stays on, apart from brief same-day disconnections for homes fed directly from the pipes being replaced

Cadent held a drop-in on the grass verge in Kings Road on Tuesday 15 September. It has not announced another. Its announcement of 11 September is still the only thing it has published about the job, and its news index carried nothing newer when we read it on Tuesday 22 September.

Two details in it do not line up, so check before you rely on either:

• Which street. Cadent’s announcement names the third street as Park Road. The county council’s traffic order, advertised on 27 August, names Park Avenue, closed for 35 metres from its junction with Swiss Avenue. We have used the order’s wording.
• How long. Cadent’s announcement calls the job both “four weeks” and a “three-week period” to 12 October. The order closes Swiss Avenue for 105 metres from Kings Road, and Park Avenue, from Monday 21 September for 15 days.

The signed diversions in the order run via Park Avenue, the A1060, the A1016 and the B1008 one way, and Swiss Avenue, the B1008, Corporation Road and Kings Road the other (Essex County Council notice, 27 August 2026).

Broomfield Road: still no completion notice

Cadent spent the summer replacing 950 metres of gas main on Broomfield Road, where the metal pipes had been in the ground since the 1930s. Its published programme ran from Monday 6 July to Sunday 23 August 2026 (Cadent).

Four weeks past that date, the company has published no completion notice and no extension, its news index still carries nothing newer for the road than the June announcement, and its Swiss Avenue announcement does not mention Broomfield Road. We cannot tell you the road has reopened, and we will not tell you it is still shut. Check the Essex Highways live traffic map before you plan a hospital run through it.

The 7.5 tonne weight limit on Main Road, Broomfield and Broomfield Road, from the Valley Bridge junction to Hospital Approach, is suspended while closures under the council’s rolling works order run. That order took effect on 3 September and was advertised again on 10 September. Lorries normally banned from that stretch may use it while those closures run.

The A130 south of the city is being resurfaced from 24 September

The largest job advertised on Thursday 17 September is not in Chelmsford itself. Essex County Council has made an order covering the A130 dual carriageway south of the city, the road most people here use to reach Basildon, Rayleigh and Southend. The shortest stretch of it is about eight miles from the city centre.

The order lets County Route close, in phases:

• the A130 southbound, from the off slip road at Rettendon to the A1245 Canvey Way junction, about 5,255 metres
• the A130 northbound, from both junctions with Canvey Way, the Rayleigh Spur, north to the on slip road at Rettendon, about 5,510 metres
• the on slip road to the A130 southbound at Rettendon, from Battlesbridge Bypass, about 275 metres

The signed alternative is the A1245 for the carriageway closures and the A1245 and A132 for the northbound stretch. A temporary “no waiting, no loading and no stopping” restriction applies on both sides of each length while it is shut. The work is carriageway resurfacing.

The order lets the work start after Thursday 24 September, and says each length will be closed for its phase and then reopened. It does not say which night any phase falls on. The council’s wording is that dates may vary and that residents get a letter or leaflet before their phase starts (Essex County Council notice, 17 September 2026).

The A131 shuts overnight on 2 October so a film can be made on it

One of the more unusual orders we have read here. The A131 Great Leighs Bypass, about seven miles north of Chelmsford, will be closed in both directions from 6pm on Friday 2 October until 5am on Saturday 3 October, between the London Road roundabout and the Moulsham Hall Lane roundabout.

The reason given is filming. The order says the closure “is required for the safety of the public while filming takes place”, and that emergency service vehicles keep access throughout. The signed alternative route is London Road (Essex County Council notice, 17 September 2026). The order does not name the production.

There is a catch, and this week made it more likely rather than less. The A131 is the signed A12 diversion route. When the A12 shuts between junction 19 and junction 25, northbound traffic is sent up the A131 through Great Leighs.

The A12 resurfacing stage runs to Friday 9 October, and National Highways has now started using Friday nights: 25 September is the first. If it uses Friday 2 October as well, the diversion route and the road it diverts onto would be shut at the same time, between 9pm and 5am. We still cannot confirm it, because the closure report only runs seven days ahead and 2 October falls outside this one. We will check it again before the weekend of the 2nd.

Moulsham: Mildmay Road shut for 33 days from 28 September, and Hall Street goes two-way

The biggest new city closure is a water job. Essex and Suffolk Water is renewing mains in Moulsham, and from Monday 28 September the order allows 33 days of closures:

• Mildmay Road, 95 metres from the Goldlay Avenue junction to its end
• Rochford Road, 45 metres from the Mildmay Road junction to its end
• Hall Street, where the one-way restriction between Moulsham Street and Mildmay Road is suspended for the duration, so the street runs both ways

The signed alternative route is Mildmay Road, Grove Road, Roman Road and Hall Street. If you park in that grid or walk children through it to school, the one-way suspension is the part to watch: drivers who have used Hall Street the same way for years will meet cars coming the other way.

London Road Bridge: still on traffic lights, still no date

The longest-running restriction in the city is on New London Road. Essex Highways installed temporary two-way traffic lights on 24 June 2025 to reduce loading on a defective cast iron beam beneath the bus lane. Priority goes to vehicles travelling from Parkway towards Bellmead.

The Park and Ride bus stop on New London Road, in front of Grosvenor House opposite the Job Centre, is still suspended. Walking over the bridge and use of the river beneath it are unaffected.

More than a year on there is still no repair date. Essex Highways is “designing and assessing the feasibility of repair options”, the bridge is Grade II listed so Listed Building Consent is needed first, and “at this stage, a completion date cannot be determined as it is dependent on the outcome of the design and approval process” (Essex Highways). If you route through the south of the city centre at peak times, plan as though those lights are permanent, because for now they are.

Army and Navy: buying land, and the page still contradicts itself

The Army and Navy Sustainable Transport Package is real, funded and consented. It is also years away.

What is in it:

• A hamburger roundabout, a roundabout with a road through the centre of it
• A 350-space expansion of Sandon Park and Ride
• A new northbound bus lane on Princes Road, and better bus priority both ways on Parkway
• Walking and cycling improvements on the junction and its approaches

Chelmer Valley Park and Ride will not be expanded. Essex Highways dropped it from the package in March 2026.

The cost is £81 million, of which the Department for Transport conditionally committed £68.75 million in October 2023. Planning permission came in November 2024 and the government confirmed the scheme could proceed in July 2025. The project is now “in the process of securing the land needed”.

On timing the scheme page still says two different things, as it has all summer. Under “Next steps” it reads that construction “is scheduled to start in 2028 and is expected to be completed in 2031”. Four questions down the FAQ it reads that construction “is expected to start in 2027 and be completed in 2029” (Essex Highways).

Either way the answer to the only question drivers ask is the same: nothing is being built at the Army and Navy this year or next.

What is shut now, and what starts in the next three weeks

These are the Chelmsford City closures from the Essex County Council orders published on 27 August, 3 September, 10 September and 17 September. Nothing has come off the list since our last check: the six closures that began on Monday and Tuesday are all still inside their scheduled days.

Six are under way today.

The rest start between tomorrow and 12 October. The two worth putting in a diary are Mildmay Road, because of the Hall Street one-way suspension that goes with it, and Rainsford Lane, where a no waiting, loading or stopping restriction runs for 95 days.

Start dates on statutory notices are the earliest date the order can be used, not a promise the cones appear that morning. Essex County Council says on each one that the dates may vary and that the live position is shown on one.network.

Advertised, but with no dates yet

Two rolling orders cover long lists of Chelmsford roads with no dates attached. The council says only that “exact dates will be specified on one.network”, and that residents get a letter or leaflet before their phase starts. The newest, which took effect on 3 September, is the one to know about, because it names some of the busiest roads in the district:

• Essex Regiment Way, Little Waltham, Broomfield and Springfield, 4,155m from the Sheepcotes roundabout to the Nabbotts Farm roundabout, plus the Wheelers Farm, Pratts Farm and Channels Drive roundabouts
• Broomfield Road and Main Road, Broomfield, 745m from Patching Hall Lane to Vellacotts, and Valley Bridge, 870m to Broomfield Road
• Writtle Road, Chelmsford Road, Bridge Street and The Green, Writtle, 1,445m from Ongar Road to Longacre
• Wood Street, Chelmsford, 870m from Galleywood Road to the Wood Street roundabout
• Channels Drive, Broomfield and Chelmsford Garden Community, 490m to Albatross Way
• School Lane, Broomfield, 320m; Lodge Road, Writtle, 105m
• Downham Road, Stock and West Hanningfield, 2,450m; Rettendon Road, The Tye and The Common, East Hanningfield, 1,685m; Creekview Road and Broughton Road, South Woodham Ferrers, 780m

An earlier order, in force since 20 August, covers Main Road and Dunmow Road, Great Waltham (4,155m), Thames Avenue (545m), Chignal Road (535m) and Wicklow Avenue (400m) on the same terms. A separate Gigaclear order covers Mill Road and Fountain Road, Good Easter.

Long path closures

Three footpath and byway closures in the district run for months rather than days, and none of them shows up on a driving app:

• Footpaths 22 and 23, Chelmsford Garden, closed 1 September 2026 to 1 March 2027 for construction of the Northern Radial Distributor Road. Both run north to Wheelers Hill, 400m and 595m respectively. We have written about what that closure signals in the road that unlocks 10,000 homes
• Byway 25, Great Waltham, closed 17 August to 17 November 2026, 2,155m from Ringtail Green south to Penden Hill, for surface improvement
• Footpath 17, East Hanningfield, closed 18 August 2026 to 18 February 2027, 630m from Footpath 18 south-west to the B1245 Southend Road. The order says the closure is “required for the safety of the public whilst the site of a fire and explosion is made safe”, and that no alternative route is available
• Byway 51, Little Waltham, closing 1 October 2026 to 1 April 2027, 120m from Footpath 40 east to Footpath 42, “because of an unsafe river crossing”. The council says the work “will be carried out in due course”, which is not a start date. The signed way round is north via the B1008 Main Road, east via The Street and Brook Hill, and south via Back Lane (Essex County Council notice, 17 September 2026)

Trains: the ground under the track has dried out

The heat has become a timetable problem. GBR Anglia said on Friday 4 September that sustained heat and low rainfall have dried out and shrunk the clay under long stretches of the Essex railway, damaging the quality of the track, and that speed restrictions and amended timetables are being applied as a result (Greater Anglia).

What has actually changed so far is on a different line from ours. The amended timetable came in on Tuesday 1 September between Southend Victoria and London, where some journeys now take two to eight minutes longer. Nothing has been announced for the Great Eastern Main Line through Chelmsford.

Two things in the announcement matter here anyway:

• the operator says engineers are monitoring track conditions across the region and that further speed restrictions may be needed in the coming weeks
• the restrictions stay until the ground recovers, so this is a months problem rather than a weeks one

Network Rail says it expects to drop 49,000 tonnes of new ballast across Anglia during 2026, having treated around 100km of track affected by dried-out soil last year.

Still no engineering work on the Chelmsford line for a fortnight

We worked through National Rail’s own planned and unplanned incident lists again on Tuesday 22 September. They carry every closure as a dated page, and the answer for this line has not changed.

There is no engineering work between London Liverpool Street and Chelmsford, Witham or Colchester at any point in the next fortnight, including this coming weekend. The next thing listed on the line is Sunday 11 October, when work between Shenfield and Liverpool Street lengthens journeys by up to 15 minutes until 09:45 and again from 23:05 to the end of service. The same pattern repeats on Sunday 18 October (National Rail).

One further ahead is worth a diary note. Engineering work between Witham and Colchester runs from Monday 26 October to Thursday 29 October, half term week. Late night and early morning services are affected, with the 23:48 and 00:18 trains terminating at Witham and buses on to Colchester (National Rail).

National Rail’s unplanned disruption list carried nine entries when we read it on Tuesday 22 September. None of them was a Greater Anglia service.

Park and ride

Two park and ride sites keep a lot of cars out of the centre, and both matter more while the London Road Bridge lights are in.

Sandon Park and Ride, Maldon Road, Sandon, CM2 7RU, has 1,377 spaces, plus 28 disabled bays, 7 parent and child bays and 2 EV charging points. Published hours are Monday to Friday 06:30 to 20:00 and Saturday 07:00 to 19:30. No Sunday service is listed.

Chelmer Valley Park and Ride is north of the city off the A130, and also runs a weekday minibus shuttle to Broomfield Hospital.

The Essex County Council tariff, read on 5 September 2026 (Travel Essex):

The free child travel offer that ran through the summer has gone. Children under 19 are back to £1.00.

Three things people miss:

• There is a 20 minute free period for drop-offs, and the barrier opens on approach because the site reads number plates
• After the park and ride buses finish for the evening, your ticket stays valid on First’s service 31 at 20:10, 21:10, 22:15 and 23:10 and service 336 at 20:40, 21:40 and 22:40, Monday to Saturday, from the Duke Street, New London Road and Parkway stops
• You can leave after closing. The barrier opens automatically on your First Bus ticket, or once a park-only ticket has been paid for

A separate commercial operator, Central Connect, runs route 701 from Sandon under its own fares, having taken the route on commercially from 6 March 2026 (Chelmsford Park and Ride). Check which bus you are boarding before you assume the price.

If you would rather leave the car at home, the train into London is 29 minutes at its fastest, and Beaulieu Park station opened with 752 parking spaces on the north-east edge of the city in October 2025.

Bus gates, and the fines behind them

Three Chelmsford locations are enforced by camera for bus lane and bus gate contraventions: Channels Drive, Duke Street and Gunson Gate. Essex County Council publishes the traffic regulation order and photographs of the signed approaches for each. Duke Street in particular catches drivers whose satnav routes them through the middle of the city rather than round it.

Where to check on the day

• Essex Highways live traffic map for what is happening right now: closures, diversions and incidents
• Essex Highways future roadworks map for the next two weeks, council and utility works together, with an email alert option
• National Highways road closure report for the A12 and the rest of the strategic network. The spreadsheet is the useful part: one sheet per day, with start and end times
• Chelmsford City Council temporary road closures for street parties and events, which the city council handles rather than the county
• Potholes, street lights and blocked drains are Essex County Council’s responsibility, not the city council’s. Report them through Essex Highways

More Chelmsford local information

• Chelmsford trains to London: times, 2026 fares and the last train home.
• Chelmsford planning news: why the A12 cancellation forced the Local Plan back open.
• Chelmsford house prices: what homes actually sell for, area by area.
• Parking in Chelmsford: every car park, tariff and permit.
• Things to do in Chelmsford: and where to park for each of them.

Sources

• National Highways statutory notice, Essex Chronicle, 20 August 2026 for the A12 junction 19 to junction 25 order: the 24-hour 50mph limit, the lay-by closures, the full weekend closures from on or after 4 September, the junction 20A slip road closures from on or after 28 September, the three-month works period and the diversion routes.
• National Highways: A12 Chelmsford to Colchester maintenance for the stages, the 14 September to 9 October northbound stage and the “weeknights only” description, read 22 September.
• National Highways seven-day closure report spreadsheet, covering Monday 21 to Sunday 27 September 2026, downloaded 22 September, for the nightly junction 19 to 25 northbound closures from Monday to Friday, the absence of any closure on that stretch on Saturday 26 or Sunday 27 September, the junction 29 to 28 and Crown Interchange closures east of Colchester, the A414 Park Street weekend closure in Hertfordshire and the M11 junction 4 to 6 nights. The link on the road closure report page changes each week, and the old link keeps serving the old week.
• Cadent: work to replace 75-year-old gas pipes in Chelmsford, 11 September 2026 for the 250 metres of main, the 21 September to 12 October programme, the closures, the Kings Road traffic lights, the gas supply note and the 15 September drop-in, and its news index, read 22 September, for the absence of any completion notice for Broomfield Road and of any update on the Swiss Avenue job.
• National Highways: A12 Chelmsford to A120 widening scheme for the cancellation and its 1 August 2025 update.
• Essex County Council, 31 July 2026 for the £38m Beaulieu Access Package and its funding.
• Cadent: Broomfield Road in Chelmsford set for new gas pipes for the 6 July to 23 August programme, the 950 metres of main, the 1930s pipes and the streets affected.
• Essex County Council temporary traffic orders published as statutory notices in the Essex Chronicle on 27 August (second part) and 3 September 2026 (Tidworth Avenue, Runwell) and 10 September 2026 (Woolards Way, Main Road, Bicknacre, rolling works order and weight limit suspension), and 17 September 2026, and the separate footpath order of 27 August, for every road and path closure listed here, its extent, dates, promoter and diversion, for the Swiss Avenue and Park Avenue dates, the Mildmay Road and Hall Street order, the Writtle event orders and the 7.5 tonne weight restriction suspension.
• Essex Highways: London Road Bridge, New London Road for the 24 June 2025 traffic lights, the defective cast iron beam, the Listed Building Consent requirement and the absence of any completion date.
• Essex Highways: Army and Navy Sustainable Transport Package for the package contents, the £81m cost, the £68.75m DfT contribution, the March 2026 Chelmer Valley decision, the land acquisition stage and both conflicting construction date sentences.
• Greater Anglia, 4 September 2026 for the dried-out clay, the speed restrictions, the Southend Victoria to London timetable change from 1 September, the two to eight minute journey increases, the 100km treated last year and the 49,000 tonnes of ballast expected in 2026.
• National Rail’s planned and unplanned incident listings, read 22 September 2026, and the individual pages for Shenfield, 11 October, Liverpool Street and Shenfield, 18 October and Witham and Colchester, 26 to 29 October, for the absence of any work on this line in the next fortnight, the October Sunday timings and the half term week closures.
• Travel Essex: Sandon Park and Ride for spaces, hours, the tariff, Park and Pedal, the cycle lockers and the evening ticket acceptance, read 5 September 2026.
• Chelmsford Park and Ride (Central Connect) for the commercial route 701 and the 6 March 2026 change.

Roadworks change at short notice and overnight closures are weather dependent. Check the live maps above before you set off. The National Highways closure report and scheme page, the Cadent news index, the Essex statutory notices and the National Rail listings were all rechecked on 22 September 2026. No new Essex traffic order has been advertised since 17 September. The Essex Highways scheme pages for London Road Bridge and the Army and Navy were last read on 19 September and have not changed. The Sandon Park and Ride tariff was read on 5 September and the Greater Anglia announcement dates from 4 September, and neither has been re-read since, because greateranglia.co.uk and travelessex.co.uk both block automated reads.