LONG-AWAITED work to make a major trunk road a dual carriageway has been made a priority, with hopes it could be completed within five years.

Traffic bosses at Essex County Council want to work with the Highways Agency to start work on the project, which would see the road widened between Harwich and Hare Green, by 2019.

Increasing capacity on the road would be part of a countywide project to aid connectivity between growing towns, ports, airports, London and the rest of the UK.

It could also open the door for the renewable energy industry in the town. Tendring highways panel member Carlo Guglielmi believes work on the road could lead to an economic boom in Harwich.

“This has the full support of the council because the improvements in the A120 could be the key to unlocking the potential of Harwich.

“It has the full support of the cabinet and county,” he said.

“There is lots of work being done around this to try and make it happen with the Skills Centre and trying to gain Centre for Offshore Renewable Engineering (CORE) status.

“We certainly think we can get the right people interested.

“The question is where is the funding going to come from? In a perfect world we could take the money off the shelf but we are talking hundreds of millions of pounds to create a dual carriageway all the way long. “However everyone recognises the importance of the project and will argue to make the scheme a success.”