RESIDENTS have been briefed about the £10million works which are to start soon on the Stanford-le-Hope junction of the A13.

About 50 residents attended a public meeting at the Pegasus Club, in Corringham, where representatives from DP World and Murphy explained what the work will involve and their plans for minimising disruption.

The project will involve bridges at the junction being widened to three lanes, extra lanes being added to sliproads and traffic lights being put up in a bid to improve capacity at the junction, before the superport opens in 2013.

Work will be carried out in three phases over the next year, with the first phase, which is set to starty imminently, involving work on the bridges and land being built up for sliproads to be widened.

Traffic on and approaching the roundabout will be reduced to one lane during the work.

The second and third phases will involve another lane being added to each sliproad. Sliproads will be closed one at a time for no more than two weeks. This is expected to cause delays of about 20 minutes.

Diversions will be put in place and signposted well in advance. It is anticipated traffic from the A13 will spill on to the A127 as motorists try to avoid delays, which could cause congestion on that road.

Work will be carried out between 8pm and 6am on weekdays and on Saturday mornings.

Goodwin Kirk, project manager for Murphy, said: “The scheme is still in its design phase, but subject to approval of the traffic management plan details, preliminary work is due to start imminently.”

Corringham and Fobbing councillor Andrew Roast said: “Had the representatives presented a rosy scenario of no delays, the residents would not have bought it.

“Instead we had a frank, detailed and factual presentation and discussion, encouraged to ask questions.”