DRIVERS are already suffering as 15 months of roadworks have started.

Essex Highways is carrying out major road works at the bottom of Ipswich Road in Colchester.

The £10 million works, which are due to take more than a year to complete, begin a few days ago and already drivers have reported hours of delays.

Preparations are being made to close Ipswich Road at the junction with Fenwick Drive in a northerly direction for about 70 metres, up to the Ipswich Road roundabouts.

The road will be closed from 7am on October 2 to 8pm on October 25.

Essex Highways said: “The closure is required for the safety of the public and workforce while water and gas main diversion works are undertaken by Anglian Water and Cadent Gas.

“The works will be carried out during the hours of 7am and 8pm, however, due to safety reasons traffic management is required at all times.

“Some of the works will require noisy equipment and may cause some disturbance, however,we will try and complete these activities when they will cause the least inconvenience.

“Full access will be maintained for residents, pedestrians and cyclists. For all other access to Ipswich Road north, Cowdray Avenue and St Andrew’s Avenue, a signed diversion route will be provided.”

Essex Highways said Colchester is growing and to support that growth it needs to provide extra capacity on the roads.

Works include replacing the double roundabouts at Ipswich Road and Harwich Road with a single roundabout at each location. The carriageway between Ipswich Road and Harwich Road junctions will also be widened to accommodate two lanes.

Eurovia has been granted the contract and expects to be on site until winter 2019.

Traffic was reduced to single lanes on the roundabouts and their approach lanes Wednesday. These lane reductions are expected to remain in force throughout the project.

Essex Highways said changing the existing double mini-roundabouts into a single roundabout with widened approaches increases efficiency.

However, the same scheme was trialled a few years ago and failed to work.

A spokesman said: “We are aware there have been historic changes to the layout of the junctions, however, there have been significant changes to traffic volumes and flow since.

“This junction is now handling more traffic than when it formed part of the A12.

“We have just begun the works and whilst efforts will be made to keep traffic congestion to a minimum throughout these improvements, it is recognised works will be undertaken in traffic sensitive areas and there is likely to be disruption to normal traffic flows.”

Various temporary road closures will be in place and the sections of road affected will be Ipswich Road to the south and the north of the roundabout, and Harwich Road to the south of the roundabout.

Residents who are directly affected will be notified in advance through letter drops and signage on site.