A12 England’s 2nd least popular and readers criticise

The A12, a busy A-road which serves east London, has been slammed as “disgraceful”, “terribly lit” and “badly designed” by disgruntled motorists.

This comes after it received the second lowest statisfaction rating of motorways and A-roads in England at 61%, according to the Strategic Roads User Survey.

The A12 starts in Poplar before heading north through Bow, Hackney Wick, and north-east through Romford and out into Essex.

“It is awful – badly designed, terribly lit and far too busy,” reader Tony Maynard commented on Facebook.

Gerry Massey, another Facebook commenter, said he even avoided using it after dark.

“When we go to Frinton to visit our son, I always leave before it gets dark,” he said. “The A12 is the worst lit A-road, from getting to join off [the] A120, [with] long stretches unlit and no cats eye to help.

“Disgraceful major road,” he added.

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The survey was launched by independent watchdog Transport Focus, which quizzed more than 9,000 motorists. 

Only the A27 fared worse than the A12, given a 59% satisfaction rating.

Eve Baker questioned how the road was being run. She said: “Who keeps changing the phasing of the traffic lights?

“[The] A12 at North Street, Romford, to Mawney Road – a snail could move quicker, also Moby Dick/Whalebone Lane and Barley Lane phasing [is] completely out of sync.”

Peter Merison made the point that constantly changing speed limits exposed people to unfair fines.

“50mph to 70 mph then back to 50 then 30 then 70, otherwise known as an easy speeding fine trap.”

Sean Watson added: “The slip roads are not long enough to enter or exit, without delaying other traffic, so the constant stop-start.”

Readers did not hold back on their views of the A12 (Image: Google)

Motorists agreed the A12 needs improvements and Shannon Burke suggested widening it to curb congestion.

“[There are] too many cars, [it] needs to be as wide as [the] M25 to cut town on traffic build up,” she said.

Brian Coaker observed that the A12 has been under constant repair work for the past two years, creating significant hurdles.

“Traffic jams and hold ups along with sections being closed at night have caused real problems,” he said.

A National Highways spokesperson said that more than £120 million has been committed to improving the A12 since 2020.

This includes resurfacing and installing road studs known as cat’s eyes.

Two major schemes are ongoing, he said, to have the old concrete road surface of the Margaretting Bypass (J13 – J15) and between Marks Tey to Stanway (J25 – J26) removed to its foundations and rebuilt.

Cat’s eyes are also being installed on these sections, expected to be complete next summer.

There are also plans to increase capacity to three lines on each carriageway of the A12 between Chelmsford and the junction with the A120 at Marks Tey.

This scheme, said to be worth £1 billion, is subject to government planning permission.

Work could start next year, with an estimated completion in 2027 or 2028, the spokesperson added.