More lives will be lost on the A47 if calls for dualling of the Acle Straight and Tilney to East Winch continue to be snubbed, angry council leaders have warned.
Amid fears the road is likely to miss out on millions of pounds, Norfolk County Council has sent the stark message that dozens more people will die or be hurt in crashes on the A47, unless the government commits to dualling.
A new report, by government company National Highways - which ministers will use to decide which road projects to fund between 2025 and 2030 in its third road investment strategy (RIS3) - acknowledges the importance of the A47.
But it also states, for the rest of the decade, new enhancements would "have a greater focus on smaller interventions".
And that has set alarm bells ringing at Conservative-controlled County Hall.
The council has written to the Department for Transport and National Highways expressing alarm and frustration over the lack of solid commitment to one of Norfolk's most important roads.
In its strongly-worded response, the council says: "Government should commit to A47 dualling in RIS3, and more specifically commit to dualling the Acle Straight and Tilney to East Winch sections of the A47.
"These are sections that experience high levels of congestion and accidents and are also in areas of high growth and provide important connections to nationally significant industries like the east coast offshore wind industry."
The council says analysis estimated dualling the Acle Straight and Tilney to East Winch would prevent 44 fatal and 292 serious casualties over the next 60 years.
The council said: "If accident rates were the same along the whole of the A47 as they were on the existing dual carriageway sections over the past five years, there would
have been around 12 fewer fatalities and 28 fewer serious accidents every
year.
"Every month someone loses their life on the A47 in an accident that might have been prevented if the road was all dual carriageway."
On the Acle Straight, a number of deaths have happened after vehicles left the single-carriageway road and ended up submerged in dykes.
Graham Plant, the council's cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport, said: "Every one of those lives is someone with a family and we are trying to prevent those deaths.
"At the end of the day, this is about safety and the importance of a route from Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth to the Midlands, which is a key road for us.
"At the moment there is nothing in there for the A47 and that is a disgrace."
The council does set out support for the mooted smaller-scale interventions to improve safety.
But it makes the point it does not want to see larger schemes, such as dualling, fall off the government's priority list.
The authority says they are "essential for economic growth of the county, connectivity and the safety of people using the network".
The council also highlights how it wants to see improvements made at what it calls 'pinch points' on the A11, such as at the Mildenhall roundabout and near Thetford.
The region was awarded £300m for work on the A47 in the first round of investment in 2014.
READ MORE: Norfolk A47 dualling schemes legal challenge dismissed
But the three biggest Norfolk projects - the revamp of Thickthorn junction, plus dualling from Easton to North Tuddenham and Blofield to North Burlingham - were only granted development consent last year.
Work has yet to start, after climate activist Andrew Boswell took the matter to the High Court, claiming granting of consent was unlawful, because the cumulative environmental impact of the schemes had not been properly assessed.
High Court judge Mrs Justice Thornton dismissed his challenge, but Dr Boswell, a former Green city and county councillor, has announced he intends to take the matter to the Court of Appeal.
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