Southend’s location, on the coast, with the two major highways going east/west, and no major highways to the north means that transport will always be a crucial issue for Southend. The road infrastructure, with a heavy reliance upon the A13 and the A127, is often congested during the morning and evening peaks, as well as at weekends during peak tourist season. Delays form a large proportion of the total journey time into and out of the Borough.
Southend does however offer a good coverage of public transport, particularly the train routes, with nine mainline railway stations, and indeed most of Southend is within one mile of a station. There are also good bus services along the A13, although these are subject to the same delays as car borne traffic. There have however been recent improvements to the A13 as a bus route with bus priority schemes reducing journey times.
Despite the relative accessibility to public transport, Southend, especially for work related trips within the Borough, has relatively low levels of public transport use, particularly compared to bus and cycling rates in similar towns. The high availability of car parking space in the town centre encourages high levels of car use, contributing to congestion.
Improving the road network, particularly at strategic locations along the A127 will be important in reducing congestion that is damaging to all sectors of the local economy. Investments in surface access improvements to London Southend Airport as well as Shoeburyness will be important. However, encouraging people to use alternative forms of transport such as trains, buses, walking and cycling will be of equal priority.
