Leigh Hill and Crowstone Avenue close from Monday, Queensway's slip road stays shut to 2 October, and the Southend 10K closes the eastern seafront on 4 October.
Three closures start or run through this week in Southend, and two of them begin tomorrow. From 08:00 on Monday 28 September, you cannot drive up Leigh Hill from Cliff Parade until 17:00 on Friday 2 October. From Monday, Crowstone Avenue in Westcliff is also closed at its seafront end between 07:30 and 17:00 each day, until 2 October. The Queensway (A1160) southeast slip road stays shut until 23:59 on Friday.
Next Sunday is the big one. The Southend 10K closes the eastern seafront from 6am to 1.30pm on Sunday 4 October, from Eastern Esplanade to Shoeburyness. The same day, c2c runs no trains between Basildon and Leigh-on-Sea.
Gallows Corner is fully open. Transport for London’s travel advice page for the junction, read again this morning, still carries a single line: “The Gallows Corner Flyover has fully reopened to all traffic” (TfL). The eastbound turn onto the A127 Southend Arterial Road, the drive home from London, is working.
Three notices have appeared on the council’s pages since our Friday read: the Leigh Hill order, the 10K order and a one-day emergency tree works closure of Grainger Road. The last two are dated 25 September. Carisbrooke Road’s five-day estimate ran out on Friday.
On the railway, today’s c2c trains run to Liverpool Street instead of Fenchurch Street. Here is the full Southend roadworks and travel picture: what is closed, for how long, and how to route around it. Every item below is taken from the council’s own traffic orders, TfL’s own pages, c2c’s own engineering calendar and National Rail’s live incident record, all read today, Sunday 27 September.
Gallows Corner: the A127 turn is back
The junction at Romford where the A127 meets the A12 is open in all directions again. TfL’s travel advice page, which as recently as Monday 21 September still listed five banned movements including the one onto the A127 Southend Arterial Road eastbound, now says only that the flyover “has fully reopened to all traffic”.
TfL’s project page says the same and sets out what was done: “the complete renewal and replacement of all elements of the flyover, except for the foundations”, which allows “the removal of speed and weight restrictions”. The refurbished junction has new pedestrian and cycle crossings, new road markings and resurfacing, and the work was part funded by the Department for Transport and the Mayor of London (TfL project page).
Two things worth noting. TfL has published no reopening date, only the reopening itself, so we are reporting what its page says today rather than a day it happened. And the deadline it had been working to was the end of September, confirmed by Havering Council on 10 September, in the same statement that recorded Essex and Suffolk Water finishing its own works at the junction (Havering Council). It has come in ahead of that.
The junction is at Romford, about twenty miles west of Southend. We set out the background in Gallows Corner set to reopen fully.
Note who runs what, because it decides where to look. The A127 is not a National Highways road. Inside the city boundary it belongs to the council, and beyond it to Essex Highways. The National Highways closure report covers the A13 trunk sections and the M25, but not the Arterial Road.
Queensway: the southeast slip road is shut until 2 October
The Better Queensway project is rebuilding the dual carriageway through the city centre, and this slip road closure has a week left to run (council traffic order, dated 11 September):
| What | When | Diversion |
|---|---|---|
| Queensway (A1160) Slip Road Southeast, entry banned from Porters Grange roundabout to York Road | until 23:59 on 2 October | Southchurch Road and Southchurch Avenue |
| Queensway (A1160) northbound, entry banned at the Queensway and Chancellor Road roundabout to York Road | 06:00 to 07:00 on 1 October only | Chancellor Road, Church Road, Heygate Avenue and Chichester Road |
That one-hour northbound ban on 1 October is easy to miss. It falls in the morning peak.
The standing order behind the rest of the scheme is the one to respect. Phased closures began at 5am on 24 March 2026 and can run up to 18 months, so into late 2027. It shuts all four Queensway slip roads at Porters Grange roundabout in phases, handles the Lancaster Gardens stretch under night closures, and suspends the eastbound parking bays from Sutton Road to Nicholson House (council traffic order). The underpass itself and the Porters Grange pedestrian subway stay shut for the duration (earlier order).
Sutton Road and Southchurch Road reopened on 13 August, with some pavement areas still being finished (Southend-on-Sea City Council), and we covered what came back and what did not in Sutton Road and Southchurch Road reopen.
What it means for you: one route back does not make the corridor predictable. Treat Queensway as unreliable at peak times for the rest of the year.
Bellhouse Road: no entry from the A127 until 16 October
This is the longest closure running in the city. You cannot turn into Bellhouse Road from the Arterial Road (A127). The ban is northbound only, and it runs until 17:00 on 16 October. Parking, stopping, waiting, loading and unloading are also banned from the A127 junction to outside and opposite number 114 (council traffic order).
The alternative route is the A127 and Rayleigh Road, or Progress Road and Rayleigh Road. The works are Essex and Suffolk Water’s. Note the wording: this is an entry ban from the A127, not a full closure of the road.
From Monday: Leigh Hill closes northbound
From 08:00 on Monday 28 September until 17:00 on Friday 2 October, no vehicle can enter Leigh Hill at its junction with Cliff Parade. It is a northbound closure only, so you can still come down the hill. The council gives two alternative routes:
- Cliff Parade, Seaview Road and Broadway
- Leigh Hill, Leigh Park Road, Hadleigh Road, Rectory Grove, Elm Road and Broadway
The works are Essex and Suffolk Water’s, and the order says they are weather permitting. Access for residents, pedestrians and emergency vehicles is kept open throughout (council traffic order).
Sunday 4 October: the Southend 10K closes the eastern seafront
The council has made a special event order for the Southend 10K. It runs from 6am to 1.30pm on Sunday 4 October, and can stay in force for up to three days if needed (council event order).
Roads closed to traffic and parking:
| Road | Stretch closed |
|---|---|
| Eastern Esplanade | from outside number 74 to Thorpe Esplanade |
| Thorpe Esplanade | from Eastern Esplanade to Shoebury Common Road |
| Thorpe Hall Avenue | from Gloucester Terrace to the Thorpe Esplanade roundabout |
| Lifstan Way | from Eastern Esplanade to Northumberland Crescent |
| Shaftesbury Avenue | the stretch behind 25 and 26 Lifstan Way |
| Ness Road | from Shoebury Common Road to outside 2 Church Road |
| New Barge Pier | from Ness Road to the Gunners Park car park access road |
The order also closes side-road junctions onto the route. On Eastern Esplanade they are Camper Road, Chester Avenue, Chelsea Avenue, Elizabeth Road, Bryant Avenue and Plas Newydd. On Thorpe Esplanade they are Warwick Road, Clieveden Road, Walton Road, Lynton Road, Burges Terrace, The Broadway, St Augustines Avenue and Maplin Way. On Ness Road they are Waterford Road and Freemantle.
Diversions are signed on the day rather than named in the order. If you live on one of those side roads and need the car before 1.30pm, move it out on Saturday night.
Carisbrooke Road and Grainger Road
Carisbrooke Road, closed between West Road and Hamlet Court Road since Monday 21 September for power repairs, had an expected five days. That ran out on Friday (emergency notice). The council does not publish completion notices, so we cannot confirm it has reopened. If the barriers are still up on Monday, the works have overrun.
Grainger Road was closed on Friday 25 September between Maldon Road and Greyhound Way for emergency tree works “in the interests of public safety”. The council expected it to take one day (emergency notice).
New this week: the Appletree Close to Eldbert Close footpath
The council published a second emergency notice on Thursday. The independent footpath from Appletree Close to Eldbert Close is closed to pedestrians from 24 September for emergency water main repairs, and the council anticipates the works will take nine days, which points to about Saturday 3 October. An alternative route is marked on site (emergency notice).
It follows the Appletree Close notice of 10 September, which covered the same corner of Southchurch for a week. Two water notices in a fortnight on adjoining streets suggests one problem being chased along the main, but the council’s notices do not say so and we have not been able to confirm it with Essex and Suffolk Water.
From Monday: Crowstone Avenue closes at the seafront end
Crowstone Avenue, Westcliff, will be closed to vehicles entering and exiting at its junction with Chalkwell Esplanade and The Leas, from 07:30 to 17:00 each day between 28 September and 2 October. The alternative route is Crowstone Avenue, Second Avenue, Chalkwell Avenue and Chalkwell Esplanade. The works are Anglian Water radar surveys (council traffic order).
Thorpe Bay loses four junctions from 12 October
The council published a new order on Monday 21 September covering Cadent’s gas main replacement in Thorpe Bay. It runs from 08:00 on 12 October to 17:00 on 9 November, and the order states plainly that the works will be completed in phases, “with only one junction closed at any given time” (council traffic order).
The order covers:
- Riviera Drive, closed from its junction with Bellevue Avenue to outside number 55
- Ilfracombe Avenue, entry and exit banned at its junction with Riviera Drive
- Lovelace Avenue, entry and exit banned at its junction with Riviera Drive
- Surbiton Avenue, entry and exit banned at its junction with Riviera Drive
Parking, stopping, waiting, loading and unloading are banned on the closed stretch of Riviera Drive, and on Ilfracombe Avenue from Riviera Drive to outside and opposite number 26. The council says any alternative route will be signposted on site rather than naming one in the order, which is unusual and means the signs are the only guide. Four weeks of rolling closures on that grid is the biggest single piece of disruption booked in the city for the autumn.
Finished in the past week
- Riviera Drive reopened after 22 September. The railway improvement closure between Bellevue Avenue and Ilfracombe Avenue ran 15 to 22 September, 7am to 6pm. The same order keeps 30 parking bays suspended and holds parking bays in Ilfracombe car park out of use until 31 January 2027, so the parking, not the road, is the lasting bit (order). The separate second Riviera Drive order that covered 10am to 6pm parking bans has come off the council’s published list.
- Percy Road, Leigh reopened at its junction with London Road (A13) at 5pm on Monday, after Cadent’s work. Its order is still on the council’s list (order).
- The Ridgeway, Chalkwell went back to two-way running after Wednesday 23 September. The one-way eastbound restriction between numbers 71 and 95, with no right turn in from Beach Avenue or Kent View Avenue, was the revised version of what was originally advertised as a full closure (supplementary notice). The parent order, TTO26-27-33, stays in force until 31 January 2027, so further dates can be called under it without a new order (parent order).
Still running: the independent footpath between Woodgrange Close and Southchurch Boulevard is closed until 2 October for Network Rail footway improvements. Walk round via Woodgrange Drive, Lifstan Way and Southchurch Boulevard (order).
The railway between now and early November
Every c2c journey is still running to the amended timetable brought in for the dried-out clay under the track. National Rail’s incident record, still showing a last update of Monday 14 September when we read it today, says the amended timetable “is expected to continue until further notice”, and that it is reflected in journey planners “up to and including Friday 2 October” (National Rail).
That horizon is now five days away, and nothing has been published about what happens on Saturday 3 October. Services towards London from Shoeburyness depart at least six minutes earlier than the normal timetable, and services from London arrive at least six minutes later. Your ticket can be used at no extra cost on Greater Anglia between Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria while it lasts. Our Southend train times guide has the rest.
From c2c’s own engineering calendar, re-read today:
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Sun 27 Sep | Diverted to Liverpool Street, calling at Stratford but not Limehouse or West Ham. Rainham line services extended to Shoeburyness. Ockendon shuttles Upminster to Grays. |
| Sun 4 Oct | Also the Southend 10K day. No trains Basildon to Leigh-on-Sea. Services start and terminate at Fenchurch Street and Basildon. Rail replacement runs Basildon to Shoeburyness, and Pitsea to Shoeburyness on the Ockendon line. |
| Mon 5 Oct, from 20:45 | Diverted to Liverpool Street. From 00:10 services start and terminate at Barking or Upminster. Rainham line services extended to Southend Central and Shoeburyness. |
| Tue 6 Oct, from 00:15 | Services start and terminate at Liverpool Street, Barking or Upminster. |
| Wed 7 Oct, from 20:45 | As 5 October, and from 22:45 via Grays, missing Upminster, West Horndon, Laindon and Basildon, with shuttles Upminster to Pitsea. |
| Sun 11 Oct | Liverpool Street services diverted to Fenchurch Street, calling at West Ham but not Stratford. Ockendon and Rainham line services will not run; buses replace Upminster to Pitsea and Upminster to Grays via Rainham and Purfleet. |
| Mon 12 to Thu 15 Oct | From 23:30 services start and terminate at Liverpool Street and Southend Central. From 23:55, no trains Southend Central to Shoeburyness, buses replace. |
| Fri 16 Oct, from 23:30 | Services diverted to Liverpool Street or start and terminate at Barking. |
| Sat 17 Oct, from 20:45 | Diverted to Liverpool Street, calling at Stratford but not Limehouse or West Ham. |
| Sun 18 Oct | Liverpool Street services diverted to Fenchurch Street, calling at West Ham but not Stratford. Rainham line will not run. |
| Mon 19 to Thu 22 Oct, from 20:45 | Diverted to Liverpool Street, calling at Stratford but not Limehouse or West Ham. |
| Sun 25 Oct | Diverted to Liverpool Street, calling at Stratford but not Limehouse or West Ham. Rainham line services extended to Shoeburyness. |
| Mon 26 to Wed 28 Oct, from 20:45 | Diverted to Liverpool Street, and from 22:45 via Grays, missing Upminster, West Horndon, Laindon and Basildon. |
| Fri 30 Oct, from 20:45 | Diverted to Liverpool Street, calling at Stratford but not Limehouse or West Ham. |
| Sun 1 Nov | Diverted to Liverpool Street, calling at Stratford but not Limehouse or West Ham. Rainham line services extended to Shoeburyness. |
| Mon 2 to Thu 5 Nov, from 00:10 | Late night services start and terminate at Laindon. Rail replacement Laindon to Leigh-on-Sea, with train shuttles Leigh-on-Sea to Shoeburyness. |
Further out, the calendar already lists no trains between Leigh-on-Sea and Shoeburyness on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 December (c2c service alterations). c2c has changed a published plan several times this month, so check the date itself before you travel rather than working from what was published a fortnight earlier.
Westcliff: footpath closures run into January
The council’s footpath resurfacing order suspends parking between 8am and 5pm and closes pavements in four Westcliff streets on different dates (council traffic order):
| Street | Dates |
|---|---|
| Milton Road, in its entirety, with a directional closure between 49 and 59 | 20 July to 25 October |
| Wentworth Road, in its entirety | 24 August to 20 November |
| Norwich Avenue, Royston Avenue to Cluny Square | 7 September to 30 October |
| Lymington Avenue, in its entirety | 21 September to 8 January |
Emergency closures: three this week, and several long past their dates
The council’s rolling emergency list now holds eleven notices (emergency road closures). Carisbrooke Road, Grainger Road and the Appletree Close to Eldbert Close footpath, all above, are the additions this week.
An emergency notice lasts a maximum of 21 days by law, and the council also publishes how long it expects the work to take, which is the more useful number. On that basis, none of the older notices should still be stopping anyone:
| Road | Started | Council’s expected duration |
|---|---|---|
| Grainger Road, Maldon Road to Greyhound Way | 25 September | 1 day |
| Footpath, Appletree Close to Eldbert Close (pedestrians) | 24 September | 9 days |
| Carisbrooke Road, West Road to Hamlet Court Road | 21 September | 5 days |
| Feeches Road, North Crescent to Denton Avenue | 11 September | 6 days |
| Appletree Close | 10 September | 1 week |
| Queens Road, Princes Street to Ashburnham Road | 9 September | 2 days |
| Chadwick Road, Westcliff, Imperial Avenue to Kings Road | 8 September | 9 days |
| Canewdon Road and Ditton Court Road, Westcliff | 7 September | one day, 9.30am to 2.30pm |
| Stromness Place, Oban Road to Stromness Road | 27 August | 1 day |
| Bridgwater Drive, Westcliff, Southbourne Grove to Somerset Avenue | 29 August | 17 days |
| North Road, Westcliff, Newlands Road to Albany Avenue | 11 August | 1 week |
Stromness Place’s 21-day legal maximum expired on 17 September, Bridgwater Drive’s on 19 September and North Road’s on 1 September. All three are still listed. Canewdon Road’s runs out on 28 September and Queens Road’s on 30 September. The council rarely publishes a completion notice, so the signs on site are the authority. Presence on this page is not evidence that a road is shut, and absence is not evidence that it has reopened.
Orders on the planned list that are already finished
The council’s traffic orders page is a filing cabinet, not a live map, and it keeps orders long after their dates have passed. These are on it today and none of them should change your route: Salisbury Avenue (7pm to 11pm on 14 September), Southchurch Road, Bellevue Road and Bellevue Avenue (7 September), Rockleigh Avenue (ended 4 September), Brighton Avenue (2 to 4 September), Thorpedene Gardens (1 to 3 September) and North Shoebury Road (7.30pm to 6am, 2 to 4 September).
The Old Leigh Regatta order has now come off the special events page. The only order on it is the Southend 10K on 4 October, set out above (special event closures).
Eastwood: the Rayleigh Road gas order is still missing
The order covering Cadent’s gas main replacement on Rayleigh Road, Brooklands Avenue and Snakes Lane ran to 14 September. It came off the council’s published traffic orders page at the start of the month, its PDF still returns a 404, and it has not returned.
The council has published no completion notice, so we cannot confirm from a first-party source that the works have finished. What we can confirm is that the order is no longer published, and that the date it ran to has passed. Treat the signs on site as the authority, and check the council’s live map (who is working in your street).
Cliffs Pavilion: the service road order is four weeks past its own end date
The service road at the Cliffs Pavilion and the east side of San Remo Parade have been closed since 18 March for the venue’s refurbishment. The order gave 31 August 2026 as the date the works were expected to be complete. That date has passed, and the same order allows the closure to continue for up to 18 months if they overrun (council traffic order).
The council has published neither a reopening notice nor an extension, and the order is still on its traffic orders page. The venue itself is open and selling shows (Southend Theatres). Until the order changes, treat the service road as closed and allow extra time for parking and drop-off.
Buses and the car-free options
The city’s buses are split between four operators. Arriva runs the core town network, including routes 1, 2 and 2A to Shoeburyness, 7, 8 and 9. First Essex runs the 20, 27 and 28 towards Hullbridge, Canvey and Basildon. Ensignbus runs the X1 and X2 expresses towards Lakeside and Upminster. Stephensons of Essex runs the council-supported 17 and 17A, whose funding the council extended for another twelve months in August 2026 (TravelEssex, council).
One myth to retire: Southend has no park and ride. Providing one is a question in the council’s Local Plan consultation material, not a service that exists (Local Plan representation). If you are driving in for the seafront, the realistic saving is picking the right zone, which our parking in Southend guide sets out car park by car park.
What it means for you
- Driving back from London: Gallows Corner is fully open. The turn onto the A127 eastbound works again, and TfL says all the diversions and traffic management have gone.
- Until 2 October: the Queensway southeast slip road is shut. Use Southchurch Road and Southchurch Avenue.
- 06:00 to 07:00 on 1 October only: you also cannot join Queensway northbound at the Chancellor Road roundabout.
- From Monday 28 September to Friday 2 October, 7.30am to 5pm: Crowstone Avenue is closed at Chalkwell Esplanade. Use Second Avenue and Chalkwell Avenue.
- Same dates, 8am Monday to 5pm Friday: you cannot drive up Leigh Hill from Cliff Parade. Use Seaview Road and Broadway.
- Sunday 4 October, 6am to 1.30pm: the Southend 10K closes Eastern Esplanade, Thorpe Esplanade and Ness Road to Shoeburyness, with side roads shut onto the route. No c2c trains run between Basildon and Leigh-on-Sea that day either.
- Until about 3 October: the footpath between Appletree Close and Eldbert Close is shut.
- Until 16 October: you cannot turn into Bellhouse Road from the A127 northbound. Use the A127 and Rayleigh Road, or Progress Road and Rayleigh Road.
- 12 October to 9 November: gas works close Riviera Drive, Ilfracombe Avenue, Lovelace Avenue and Surbiton Avenue in Thorpe Bay, one junction at a time. Watch the signs, because the order does not name a diversion.
- Today, Sunday 27 September: c2c trains run to and from Liverpool Street, calling at Stratford but not Limehouse or West Ham. Rainham line trains are extended to Shoeburyness.
- Every day until further notice: c2c is running the amended timetable. Trains towards London leave Shoeburyness at least six minutes earlier than normal, and your ticket is valid on Greater Anglia between Southend Victoria and Liverpool Street.
Sources
- TfL Gallows Corner travel advice and the flyover refurbishment project page
- Council notices this week: the Leigh Hill order, the Southend 10K event order, the Grainger Road emergency notice, the Appletree Close to Eldbert Close footpath emergency notice, the Carisbrooke Road emergency notice, the Crowstone Avenue order and the Riviera Drive, Ilfracombe, Lovelace and Surbiton Avenues order
- Planned traffic orders, emergency road closures and special event closures
- National Rail incident record for the amended c2c timetable and the c2c service alterations calendar
- Who is working in your street, the council’s gateway to the live one.network roadworks map
- Essex Highways roadworks maps for the A127 beyond the city boundary
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