Will there ever be a new crossing onto Canvey Island?

[hvordan]

Canvey Island currently has two crossings onto the island, the A130 Canvey Way (connecting to the A13/A130 at Sadler's Farm) and the B1014 (going into Benfleet). The trouble is, both of these roads meet on Canvey at the same roundabout (Waterside Farm), therefore, all traffic off and on the island has to go through this junction, leading to often severe traffic issues across the island. Many islanders have yearned for a solution to this problem, and as someone who travels to Canvey very frequently, I can feel their frustration. Talks of building a new crossing have come and go over the years, but no progress has been made it seems.

I'm curious to know what other people think about this, whether a new crossing should be built, what route should it take, or any other solutions to this problem.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

I am not familiar with the area, only parts of Essex I've been to are near Stratford. But what is can see from the map, there is a weakness in the road layout, one broken-down HGV at the roundabout would spell doom, especially for emergency vehicles.

New roads and bridges are costly to build and maintain, and might be unpopular in what I guess is a bird estuary habitat.
The simple solution would be a roundabout avoiding road 300 yards away on both sides.

 

[hvordan]

there is a weakness in the road layout, one broken-down HGV at the roundabout would spell doom, especially for emergency vehicles.

This is absolutely the case, any accident near the roundabout or on one of the crossings and half the island, half of Benfleet and in very severe cases, the A13 is at a standstill!

New roads and bridges are costly to build and maintain, and might be unpopular in what I guess is a bird estuary habitat.

I believe the local authority for Canvey, Castle Point Council, were hoping for a new link from the Northwick Road roundabout to the A1014 Manorway at Coryton, however, Thurrock Council object to this on the basis of road capacity and traffic increase. I don't recall many people on Canvey being too bothered by constructing through Canvey Wick (which to be fair is a fairly uninspiring nature reserve, however I do appreciate the need for the designation to protect wildlife), I think the people are desperate for a solution (and rightly so).

Personally, I think the objections by Thurrock Council are somewhat unfounded, with the A1014 being dual carriageway for 3 miles once leaving the A13 and not directly going into the towns of Stanford and Corringham. And with proposed expansion of the Oikos oil storage facilities (not sure if this is still going ahead, perhaps someone would be able to confirm), a new crossing seems fairly important.

 

[THC]

A second access route onto the island is on the Transport East strategy long list and a Canvey West Access Partnership, including representatives from Essex CC and Castle Point BC, has been set up to investigate further, but it will likely be a decade or so at the earliest before anything is built.

THC

 

[hvordan]

A second access route onto the island is on the Transport East strategy long list

Do you have a link to this, I'd be interested to read more about it?

 

[THC]

Do you have a link to this, I'd be interested to read more about it?

Strategic Investment - Transport East

With reliable, safe and accessible transport networks, we can unlock opportunities to create a thriving, inclusive and sustainable economy. Transport East is advocating for the transport investment needed across the region. Strategic Investment Programme We have drawn together a programme of...

www.transporteast.org.uk

It's a one-liner on p30 but it's there all the same.

THC

 

[hvordan]

Strategic Investment - Transport East

With reliable, safe and accessible transport networks, we can unlock opportunities to create a thriving, inclusive and sustainable economy. Transport East is advocating for the transport investment needed across the region. Strategic Investment Programme We have drawn together a programme of...

www.transporteast.org.uk

It's a one-liner on p30 but it's there all the same.

THC

Appreciated, thank you.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Agree, the A130 / B1014 roundabout junction seems to be a definite pinch point. Presume any Coryton crossing would be to the West of Canvey Island on the minor road shown below that currently leads to a dead end.


Map extract of Canvey Island -
Source: https://cycle.travel/city/canvey_island/days_out

 

[W-on-Sea]

I believe there are very many rare insects on Canvey Wick - the soil is extraordinarily rich, in part because so much of it was dredged up from the bed of the Thames Estuary and dumped there. Although building a road connection to Coryton would be the obvious way (perhaps indeed the only feasible way) to create a new link with the mainland, I suspect there would be some quite tight restrictions as to where construction would be permitted - with the probable effect of making the gateway to the new road closer to the current Waterside Farm roundabout than would be ideal.

 

[hvordan]

Presume any Coryton crossing would be to the West of Canvey Island on the minor road shown below that currently leads to a dead end.

I believe that is the intention.

Although building a road connection to Coryton would be the obvious way (perhaps indeed the only feasible way) to create a new link with the mainland, I suspect there would be some quite tight restrictions as to where construction would be permitted - with the probable effect of making the gateway to the new road closer to the current Waterside Farm roundabout than would be ideal.

Perhaps the new crossing could be built a little bit further south, leaving the A1014 and skirting the north of the now closed oil refinery, and going onto Canvey at the roundabout on Roscommon Way (the one south of Northwick Road Roundabout). Although, I am assuming this would be more costly?

Like so:

 

[Magdalia]

I went to Canvey Island and it was a once in a lifetime experience.

Canvey Island currently has two crossings onto the island, the A130 Canvey Way (connecting to the A13/A130 at Sadler's Farm) and the B1014 (going into Benfleet). The trouble is, both of these roads meet on Canvey at the same roundabout (Waterside Farm), therefore, all traffic off and on the island has to go through this junction, leading to often severe traffic issues across the island. Many islanders have yearned for a solution to this problem, and as someone who travels to Canvey very frequently, I can feel their frustration. Talks of building a new crossing have come and go over the years, but no progress has been made it seems.

The bottleneck is the Waterside Farm roundabout, not the crossings on and off the island. It just needs a redesign so that the routes to and from both crossings can't be blocked simultaneously.

 

[hvordan]

I went to Canvey Island and it was a once in a lifetime experience.

It is a very interesting place indeed lol! Although I don't think it deserves the hate it gets, I find this part of Essex strangely beautiful. Maybe I'm biased though as I spent a lot of time visiting when I was a child, and now my partner lives there so I visit a lot.

The bottleneck is the Waterside Farm roundabout, not the crossings on and off the island. It just needs a redesign so that the routes to and from both crossings can't be blocked simultaneously.

I can't help but feeling like just redesigning Waterside Farm roundabout won't do much to help, with all traffic on the island itself being funnelled down to using two roads to get to the roundabout in the first place. At least with a second crossing over to the Manorway, there could be two main flows of traffic off the island, as well as segregating those travelling towards Grays and London on the A13, and those heading towards Basildon, Southend and Chelmsford. Alas, I am not a transport planner so I guess some professtional traffic modelling would have to be done to figure out all scenarios.