A MULTI-MILLION pound upgrade of one of Basildon’s most notorious roads in a bid to ease congestion has been branded a waste of money.

With Essex County Council set to sign off £3.3million to install an extra lane northbound between Basildon Hospital and the Roundacre Roundabout, on the A176 in Nethermayne, Ukip county councillor Kerry Smith has hit out at the scheme.


The Department of Transport has stumped up £2.3million for the project, which the county council insisting adding another lane is a priority, with about 25,000 vehicles using the section of the road each day, with cars regularly backed up.

But Mr Smith said that the lane will not solve traffic woes on the road, because there is a traffic-lighted pedestrian crossing just before the Roundacre roundabout heading north into Basildon, which regularly gridlocks traffic.

He said: “This is just a huge waste of taxpayer’s money because what causes a lot of the congestion is the pedestrian crossing.