Revealed: Plan for A11/ A47 slip road to bypass Thickthorn Roundabout

Thickthorn - Single option . Image from Highways England (Image: Highways England)

A new slip road could also take drivers joining the A11 southbound from the Great Yarmouth direction away from the major bottleneck.

The move will be unveiled today as part of Highways plans which also include new stretches of road either north or south of the current A47 at Hockering and south of the current A47 between Blofield and North Burlingham.

Plans for new stretches of road on the A47 between Wansford and Sutton to create a dual carriageway will also be unveiled.

Norfolk councillors and MPs were briefed about the plans for the Norfolk stretch of the route yesterday in Norwich.

Highways England said it was at an early phase in the process and could not say how many homes might be affected by the different options.

Work on the Vauxhall and Gapton roundabouts is also planned as part of the £300m upgrade.

New traffic lights will be put in place at both junctions. The Breydon Bridge is due to be widened and the Vauxhall roundabout could be enlarged.

Highways England, which is now running a consultation on the plans for six weeks until April 21, has sent letters to people living in homes which might be affected by the work.

Phil Davie, the senior responsible officer for the A47, said they had done a lot of work looking at the options for the route and feedback would be incredibly valuable.

He said that consultation responses would shape the options they took forward for the route.

He urged people to go to the consultation sessions to be talked through the detail and to ask questions.

Work is not expected to start on the road until March 2020.

A website with the detailed maps is also due to go live today with details of the consultation events.

There will be three public events for each of the six schemes.

See www.edp24.co.uk and tomorrow's EDP for more details about the plans and consultations.