HIGHWAYS bosses are drafting plans for a major one-way system to dramatically alter Chelmsford's "vulnerable" road network and tackle its skyrocketing population.
Essex County Council highways boss Rodney Bass is expected to launch a consultation into a "ring and loop" system for the city within the next month.
He remains tight-lipped over which notorious junctions will be affected, and says he is open to suggestions from the public, but rumour is that one-way traffic could one day dominate the heavily congested Victoria Road, Springfield Road and High Bridge Road.
The announcement follows Tuesday's ground-breaking ceremony for the £120 million John Lewis project and the start of work on about 4,400 homes in north Chelmsford, which would channel even more traffic onto the network.
Cllr Bass, county council cabinet member for highways and transportation, said: "Every city of any substance eventually has to come to terms with a ring and loop system and Chelmsford is no exception.
"These things have to be planned and tried out before they're implemented, but the short answer is it needs one right now.
"Everybody knows how vulnerable Chelmsford is. When the next lorry overturns on the A12 at Chelmsford, the city becomes gridlocked.
"At the moment, if you try to go across the city because the A12 is blocked by an accident, you find you run into serious congestion as there are people trying to manoeuvre in all sorts of directions.
"I think it's pretty self-evident and fairly obvious, and what the ring and loop system will do is make traffic flow."
The Conservative-led county council launched a public consultation into a one-way system in 2006, but it was met with fierce Liberal Democrat opposition and never became a reality.
The design would have forced all traffic to move clockwise along New Street, Market Road, Victoria Road South and part of Victoria Road.
Yet the city is now bracing itself for a larger scale system, after county councillors were handed a single-sheet of A4 proposing the scheme at a Chelmsford local highways panel meeting in December.
"Once we have some sort of template we can share it with the general public," said Cllr Bass.
"It's likely to be weeks or months before then, but we would have quite extensive discussions and preparation works and we will consult very widely.
"When we use the expression 'Chelmsford ring and loop' that is what we mean, essentially some sort of inner ring road and everybody can visualise what roads that would use, but the important thing is for it to work.
"It needs the ability to allow traffic to get into the centre, and we're not talking about prohibiting cars in the centre of Chelmsford. It may include, for example, Parkway, but we wouldn't ever contemplate making Parkway all one-way.
"It needs to be done pretty promptly because we need to ensure that the city of Chelmsford has a ring system that is fit for purpose.
"The danger is it won't be fit for purpose considering the growth and prosperity of the city."
The system would be modelled partly on the results of a monitoring operation, which took place last spring, when Traffic Survey Partners fixed 140 CCTV cameras to lampposts across the city to identify the busiest pinch points.
County council contractor Ringway Jacobs is due to complete a dedicated left-turn lane connecting Parkway to Chelmer Road at the Army and Navy Roundabout in March.
"It's all part of the same story," said Cllr Bass, who said the ring and loop system would cost "millions".
Chelmsford City Council leader Roy Whitehead said: "Anything that can be done to improve traffic in the city is desirable, but whether this is the right solution we don't know yet because the county council hasn't yet shared their latest figures with us.
"I do agree with Cllr Bass that Chelmsford roads are outdated. I'm looking forward to seeing what improvements he is going to bring about."
Essex county councillor and Liberal Democrat Stephen Robinson, who fought against the 2006 one-way scheme through fear it caused too much "conflict" with pedestrians in the city centre, said the new scheme for Chelmsford could not serve as the ultimate solution.
"At the moment we don't know what is being proposed and we want more detail so we can consider it seriously," said Cllr Robinson.
"We were concerned last time whether this would actually solve the problem. Our other concern is this means that other schemes are being put on hold.
"Also the problem of traffic in Chelmsford is much wider, it's about how much traffic is attracted to coming into Chelmsford in the first place.
"So we want a wider study that looks at road networks around Chelmsford and we have always wanted to see four park and rides around the city."
