Commuters from the Wellington area face two years of disruption from next spring as work begins to upgrade one of the busiest junctions on the M5.

Somerset County Council will be making improvements to Junction 25 near Taunton to increase capacity and improve the flow of traffic.

The scheme will see traffic signals installed on every section of the junction, the enlargement of the central roundabout and the widening of the eastern exit of the junction.

Following a meeting of Taunton Deane Borough Council – in whose district the junction lies – the county council has confirmed that work will begin in the spring and could last up to two years. The scheme will cost just over £18 million, of which £4 million will come from Highways England and £12.9 million will come from the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The rest will come from the borough council and housing developers.

As part of the scheme, a new roundabout will be created for traffic to access the proposed Nexus 25 employment site to the east of the motorway, and improved pedestrian and cycling facilities will be implemented.

Taunton Deane leader Cllr John Williams referenced the project’s two-year timescale for the update in a written report presented to the full council.

He said: “The Junction 25 improvement works are expected to start in spring 2019, with completion anticipated for spring 2021 (though this is dependent on the programme put forward by the contractors).

“Good progress is being made by the county council with necessary land acquisition agreements and a detailed design is now complete.

“Road safety audits are under way and procurement documents and additional traffic modelling are nearing completion.”

The site measures about 21 hectares – 51.89 acres – of which 5.06 acres was in private hands and the rest is owned by the county council and Highways England.

The county council declined to state how much it has spent acquiring the land around the junction, citing commercial sensitivity.

But it did confirm the contract for the work would be awarded this winter, with a view to work beginning in the spring.

A spokesman said: “The scheme is currently out to tender and we remain on programme to award the contract this winter.”

The later stages of the M5 upgrade will coincide with improvements to the A358 Toneway, specifically the Creech Castle junction with the A38 Bridgwater Road.

Mr Williams said work on the Toneway would begin in ‘spring or summer of 2020’ and would be completed by the summer of 2021.

Traffic diversion arrangements will be finalised and announced nearer to the commencement for both sets of work.

DANIEL MUMBEY

Local democracy reporter