A127 / A130 Fairglen Interchange

Introduction

The A127 / A130 Fairglen Interchange is a crucial link in our region’s road network for South Essex and is of vital importance to our sustained economic growth.

The Interchange has served us well for many years but has reached its capacity and is in need of significant improvement.

A proposed 'short-term' scheme has been developed to increase the capacity of the A127 / A130 Fairglen Interchange, reduce journey times, address existing safety concerns and improve pedestrian and cycling connectivity.

The scheme, which has been developed following feedback from road users and local people, will allow the interchange to handle current and estimated future traffic levels up to 2036, enabling and supporting economic growth across South Essex.

Planning consent for the scheme was granted in December 2019. The Compulsory Purchase Order and Side Roads Orders were confirmed on 25th July 2023.

Latest progress

In February 2025, it was announced that the Department for Transport was investing investing £15 million in the project to enable construction work to get underway. The new funding is in addition to the £38 million Essex County Council is investing in the junction and £6.2 million from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership.

Essex County Council has now selected a preferred contractor for the construction of the scheme. However, a number of complex issues are taking longer to resolve than anticipated, impacting the start date for the works on site.

The council remains committed to delivering the much-needed improvements to the junction and is working hard to commence the scheme as soon as possible. Further updates will be provided in due course.

Scheme flythrough

The following video includes a flythrough of the scheme. Please note that this video, and our visualisation images on this page, were based on our earlier concept designs prior to the public consultation in 2018. Although it still provides a good overall summary of the scheme, it does not fully reflect our final design.

 

What are the problems?

The A127 / A130 Fairglen Interchange lies at a key point on the transport network in South Essex, forming a strategic connection between the A13, A127, A130 and A1245.

The Interchange currently experiences high levels of congestion during peak periods and high volumes of traffic at other times too.

There are also safety concerns, with significant numbers of collisions involving motor vehicles, which have been attributed to poor sightlines for drivers at some locations and to incorrect lane use.

As well as current traffic congestion and safety concerns, the Interchange is expected to come under increased pressure in future as plans for significant growth in housing and jobs is realised.

 

What is our solution?

Having considered and investigated various potential options, we have now agreed a scheme to improve the A127 / A130 Fairglen Interchange. The scheme includes:

• A new ‘Southend Link Road’ linking the A130 southbound to a new signalised junction on the A1245, effectively bypassing the Fairglen roundabout itself
• Widening of the westbound A127 off-slip at the Fairglen Interchange
• Dedicated left-turn from A1245 onto Southend-bound A127
• Improvements at the Rayleigh Spur Roundabout, including new traffic lights at two arms of the junction and an additional lane on the roundabout itself
• An additional traffic lane southbound between Fairglen Roundabout and Rayleigh Spur Roundabout
• A new bridge for pedestrians and cyclists, linking to existing routes alongside the A127.

Key features of the scheme

New link road from A130 to A127 via A1245 

• A new link road will provide a direct route from the A130 southbound to the A1245, from where traffic can easily access the A127.
• This single-lane road, which will widen to two lanes at the traffic signals, will help relieve pressure on the Rayleigh Spur Roundabout, where delays to traffic entering on the A130 southbound can be severe.
• Access to the link road will be via a single-lane slip road. The link will join the A1245 via a new traffic-light-controlled junction with two right-turn-only lanes.
• The link road will be one-way, with no direct route in the opposite direction from the A1245 to the A130.

Fairglen Roundabout improvements  

• A new dedicated left-turn lane from the A1245 to the A127 eastbound, bypassing the roundabout, with new dedicated slip lane and existing slip road retained.
• The slip lane for westbound traffic leaving the A127 to enter the roundabout will be expanded from two lanes to three.
• There will be an additional southbound lane from Fairglen Roundabout to Rayleigh Spur Roundabout.

Rayleigh Spur Roundabout improvements

• The roundabout will be enlarged with additional circulatory lanes and traffic lights on two of the three arms.
• There will be new traffic lights at the A130 southbound approach to the roundabout, with the road expanded to three lanes. The existing left-only bypass would be retained, avoiding the roundabout.
• There will be new traffic signals at the A130 northbound approach to the roundabout, with the road expanded from two lanes to three. The existing left only bypass will be retained, avoiding the roundabout.
• The southbound A130 exit from the roundabout will be expanded from two lanes to three.
• The A1245 southbound approach to the roundabout will be realigned  because of the lane widening, and the existing bypass lane will be removed and become private access only. The bypass lane is being removed to provide safe access and egress to the private access and to avoid an additional lane of traffic needing to merge with the three lanes exiting the Rayleigh Spur roundabout southbound.

Improvements for walking and cycling

• We will install a new bridge for pedestrians and cyclists just south of the Fairglen Roundabout, which will link existing walking and cycling paths alongside the A127.
• Existing cycling and walking paths, such as those around the Rayleigh Spur Roundabout, will be retained.

Public engagement

The development of the scheme was informed by a series of engagement and consultation events which the public and key stakeholders were invited to participate in. 

In February 2017, we published information about our plans to improve the A127 / A130 Fairglen Interchange and provided opportunities for people to find out more about the project and give us their feedback.

In April/March 2018, we then held a six-week public consultation on proposed changes to the A127 / A130 Fairglen Interchange, with responses analysed and considered to help us finalise design of the scheme. Our public consultation brochure and report can be found in the documents section below.

Following consultation, we successfully obtained planning approval for the scheme in December 2019.

Long-term option for Fairglen Interchange

When we publicised information about proposed A127 / A130 Fairglen Interchange improvements in February 2017, we also published a long-term concept option.

The long-term concept option could be required in the event of increased traffic as a result of higher levels of future growth but would require significant additional funding. 

The short-term solution is fully compatible with the long-term option should that need to be implemented in the future.

Design of the long-term solution has not been fully developed.