UTILITY pipe diversions on controversial roadworks have cost Essex County Council an extra £1million.

Work is progressing to divert main utility pipes in Ipswich Road, Colchester, so the roadworks themselves can start.

Essex County Council said BT is still carrying out telecoms main diversions in St Andrew’s Avenue, however, staff have now completed their mains diversions in Ipswich Road south.

Eurovia, the main contractors for the £5.5 million project, still have a gang who are fixing the wall between Ipswich Road roundabout and the Waitrose car park.

These works need to be finished before Eurovia can begin building the two new roundabouts.

The county council had to spend an extra £1million on utility diversions alone, because they are so complicated.

A county council spokesman said: “The works are much more complex than just widening and changing the roundabouts.

“The tasks involved to complete the project include removal of existing structures, diverting utilities pipes and cables over several months, undertaking piling works for the Waitrose and Network Rail walls, replacement of street lighting, building the new wider carriageway and pavements, renewing and improving cycle paths.

“This is without any unforeseen engineering complications that may arise.”

The county council also answered questions around why so many barriers have been used to close lanes where work is not taking place.

It said: “Legislation says when we have reduced lanes on a roundabout we must also reduce the approaches to the same number of lanes or fewer, this is for safety reasons and without it collisions would be more likely due to rapid merging of lanes, bottlenecking or gridlocking of the junctions completely.

“For safety of the public and contractors’ staff, we must maintain proper lane closures on the approaches to the junctions.”

They also said works are being undertaken at night and weekends where possible.

The spokesman said: “We are heavily restricted to limited working areas due to the considerable amount of utility diversions required to be completed first.

“In addition, due to the proximity of residential properties there are environmental considerations associated with noise during the night which we need to abide by.

“As the scheme progresses and more working areas are available, the ability to increase resources and working hours will continually be evaluated.”