A new slip road on the A120 has been given the green light – potentially spelling the end of lengthy tailbacks that have dogged motorists for years.

The development is designed to relieve traffic congestion at Galleys Corner Roundabout at Braintree as a medium-term solution, in advance of a longer-term and separate improvement scheme for the A120 that Highways England is currently progressing.

Essex County Council’s development and regulation committee voted unanimously for the project at a meeting on August 28.

The A120 at Galleys Corner roundabout is severely over capacity at peak times and this has a significant detrimental impact on the movement of people and goods along the A120 in the wider area.

During the morning peak period traffic queues can often extend from Galleys Corner to Marks Farm roundabout, a distance of nearly one mile.

Significant delays also occur at weekends and traffic monitoring over the past three years reveals that the delays have become more frequent and increased in length.

Following on from the successful award of £4.95milllion in funding from the Department for Transport’s National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) for the Local Road Network from the Department for Transport, and with support from Highways England (£3million) and Braintree District Council (£2.5million), two new slip roads on the A120 at Millennium Way are to be built to allow users to directly access the B1018 and relieve congestion further along at Galleys Corner roundabout.

Essex County Council says this improved access would help to accommodate further growth in the local area, stimulating additional commercial investment and job creation along the A120 in Essex.

The scheme will also help to improve air quality in the area by increasing capacity on local roads and reducing stationary traffic on the A120, making it more efficient to transport goods and people through Essex, as well as having a positive impact on vehicle users and local residents.

Development and regulation committee member, John Jowers, said: “Certainly stopping cars in two-mile long queues sitting there pumping out fumes outweighs the loss of some of the rather scrubby tree planting.”