Drivers are being warned of long delays as part of the A12 will be closed this weekend. 

National Highways is advising drivers to allow extra time for their journeys this weekend as the closure of the northbound carriageway at Marks Tey, near Colchester, will be in place from 9pm on Friday until 5am on Monday. 

It will affect drivers heading to Suffolk from London and south Essex.

When the closure was first put in place during the last weekend in June, drivers were faced with significant delays and a decision was taken to remove the planned closure for the following weekend while a review of the associated traffic management plan took place.

Karl Brooks, National Highways programme delivery manager in the East region, said: "We don't want anyone stuck in a car and queueing in congestion on a hot and humid weekend, so we took the decision to carefully look at the measures we put in place over that first weekend and see if there was anything we could do differently.

"Following that review we have put signs advising of the closure further away on the road network to alert drivers who could be heading towards the A12. We think that may help those travelling from further afield to change their plans and seek a slightly alternative route.

"We are also placing temporary traffic lights at the roundabout above junction 25. That will help us to control the flow of traffic at what is a real pinch point for us as vehicles diverted off the northbound carriageway at junction 25, head over the roundabout and back onto the carriageway via the entry slip road."

This weekend's closure will be the third of six due to take place across a series of weekends up until early September as work is carried out to remove the old concrete road surface between the exit and entry slip roads at the Marks Tey junction.

The southbound side of the carriageway at the junction will be unaffected.