MOTORISTS and residents are reminded of the planned closures and diversions that will be in place as part of the A13 widening project this weekend.

The A13 will be closed in both directions underneath the Manorway interchange at the Stanford-le-Hope (A1014) junction.

The closures start at 9pm tomorrow (Friday, 30 July) and remain until 5am on Monday, 2 August with traffic diverted via the exit slip roads and entry slip roads at the junction.

To minimise the impact on nearby residential areas, road users are being urged not to divert through nearby towns and villages, with non-local traffic encouraged to use the A127 instead to avoid causing local congestion.

Additional closures are planned on the A13 for Sunday night. On Sunday 1 August, between 9pm and 5am the next morning, the A13 westbound entry slip road at the Orsett Roundabout will be closed. Traffic will be diverted via the A13 eastbound carriageway instead, turning around at the Stanford-le-Hope junction to join the A13 westbound carriageway.

Later on during Sunday night, from 11pm until 5am the next morning, the A1013 Stanford Road eastbound will be closed between Orsett Cock Roundabout and the Kier offices to enable road re-alignment works to take place.

In addition, from Monday 2 August, the bus stop on the A1013 Stanford Road in front of the Kier office, will be temporarily moved 25 metres east from its current position to enable various works to take place including road surfacing, re-alignment and kerbing.

A temporary bus stop will be provided until the permanent stop is back in use, which is expected to be in mid-September.