Councillors have called for the county council&apos;s highways contract to be publicly scrutinised in the wake of Chelmsford&apos;s Army and Navy flyover closing.
Leader of the opposition Councillor Mike Mackrory and Councillor Stephen Robinson, both Lib Dems, have argued that Essex County Council&apos;s current contract with Ringway Jacobs is "too expensive" for the services it provides.
It follows a temporary closure in July where the council carried out three weeks&apos; worth of essential maintenance work on the structure before reopening it on August 13.
Councillor Kevin Bentley, deputy leader of the council and portfolio holder for infrastructure, repeatedly maintained the flyover was safe before the indefinite closure, adding that it was &apos;recent damage&apos; not visible during the July-August engineering work.
Cllr Robinson, who served on the Place Services and Economic Growth Policy and Scrutiny Committee between 2013 and 2017, added that there needed to be a full review of the Ringway Jacobs highways contract.
He said: "We have called for a full review a number of times.
"That is like a teacher marking their own homework."
In a meeting between Cllr Mackrory and the director of Essex Highways last week, it was revealed that seven bolts on the flyover had been sheared off.
"The way it was put to me was that it was insignificant given the total number of bolts," Cllr Mackrory said.
"They are admitting there had been faults. The independent inspection now going on is looking to see if any other faults are there."
Cllr Mackrory intends to ask Cllr Bentley at a Full Council meeting on October 9 for his initial findings from the independent Principal Inspection.
A spokesperson for Essex Highways said: "The briefing for Cllr Mackrory was arranged at the request of Cllr Bentley.
"Where bolts have failed, or had other defects (for example, corrosion) they are being repaired as we said in our statement.
"In total seven defective bolts have now been identified as requiring replacement – work to replace the bolts is underway."
In response to Cllr Robinson&apos;s claims about the damage to the base pillar, the spokesperson added: "The damage concerned was identified in September following the three-week closure of the flyover over the summer.
"This resulted in the closure of the flyover on September 11. The cause is still being investigated however persistent hot weather is thought to have been a contributory factor, and would of course have occurred over the summer, as we said in our statement.
"We have no evidence that suggests that the damage was visible on site during the three-week closure.
"Every cabinet member has a role to play in scrutinising work in their portfolio. That is part and parcel of the job.
"Cllr Bentley has already committed as of the Full Council meeting in May 2018 to take the Ringway Jacobs contract to the Place Scrutiny Committee for consideration.
"The task force to look at longer-term plans to improve the Army and Navy roundabout will start work as soon as possible, with a date for an early meeting to be fixed within days."
Cllr Bentley, meanwhile, in response to comments on the expense of the Ringway Jacobs contract, said: "It would be very interesting to understand more from the councillors as to what areas of activity they perceive as being &apos;very expensive&apos;.
"To date, however, it remains disappointing that we continue to receive this type of criticism from people who haven&apos;t taken the time to understand how the strategic partnership works and the wealth of local businesses that are engaged in the delivery of highways services across the county."