Major road projects are being planned across the county, changing the way people travel through Norfolk.
Here are six major transportation projects you can expect to see more of in 2024.
Long Stratton bypass
Work to pave the way for the construction of the Long Stratton bypass is expected to start early next year.
Work on the Long Stratton Bypass is due to start next spring, but, ahead of that, Norfolk County Council needs to shut a number of roads between January and March.
Church Lane, Edges Lane, Hall Lane and Parkers Lane will all have to be temporarily closed at various stages to clear vegetation to allow for construction to start.
The single-carriageway bypass will extend east of Long Stratton from a new junction at Church Lane to rejoin the existing A140 near Oakside farm.
However, there is uncertainty over funding for the £47m road project, with a £6m budget gap.
Norfolk County Council is to temporarily pump £1.3m in to get the scheme started, even though the authority has yet to submit its final business case for the road - the point where the government will confirm how much it will award for the project.
A government decision over the business case for the road is expected in March.
A47 dualling
Whether three major road projects on the A47 can go ahead are set to be decided once and for all early next year.
National Highways - the government company responsible for the road – wants to dual two sections of the A47 - from Blofield to North Burlingham and from Easton to North Tuddenham, while also revamping Thickthorn roundabout on the edge of Norwich.
But Dr Andrew Boswell, an environmental campaigner and former Green councillor, launched a legal appeal against the schemes which is due to be heard on January 16.
The challenge has been fixed for a one-day hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
The delays to the schemes caused by the activist's legal challenge have already cost taxpayers tens of millions of pounds.
Officials say the projects will make the roads safer and tackle congestion.
But Dr Boswell has argued the cumulative carbon impact of the A47 schemes had not been properly considered by the Department for Transport, when ministers granted permission for them.
Third River Crossing
Construction of the £121m Great Yarmouth Third River Crossing has faced multiple delays since it started in 2021.
Now the crossing, known as the Herring Bridge, is expected to finally open to all road traffic and pedestrians sometime in 2024.
The project took a significant step forward when it finally opened to allow river traffic through last month.
The bridge will link the A47 at Harfrey’s roundabout to the port and the enterprise zone via South Denes Road on the other side of the River Yare.
The opening has repeatedly been pushed back, with an unexploded Second World War bomb and the discovery of a vole burrow hampering progress.
Norwich Western Link
The controversial Norwich Western Link took a major step forward in 2023 when the government promised to fund a significant proportion of the costs.
And next year the county council’s planning committee is expected to discuss whether or not to sign off on constructing the £274m road scheme.
But County Hall still faces a large funding gap for the 3.9-mile road and opponents fear the authority council go bankrupt if it does not go ahead.
If it does secure planning permission and get through a potential public inquiry, work could start in summer 2026, with the road open in 2029.
The road, which would connect the Northern Distributor Road to the A47 west of Norwich, will cost more than £70m per mile.
West Winch
Plans for a new £84m bypass near King’s Lynn are expected to be lodged in the coming weeks.
Norfolk County Councillors gave the green light to officers to submit a planning application for the West Winch Access Road.
The new road would link the A10 and A47 and serve 4,000 homes which are due to be built in the West Winch area.
It would connect the two routes via a new 1.5-mile road, starting to the south of Gravelhill Lane in West Winch and joining the A47 before it reaches the Hardwick Junction.
There have long been calls for the access road to be built before the thousands of new homes are constructed, to stop roads from being further clogged up by extra traffic.
The county council hopes work can start in the spring or summer of 2025, with the road opened two years later.
Necton safety improvements
A £2.2m project to widen the junction mouths, which began at the end of September, is expected to take around five months to complete, reopening fully in March.
The work is intended to improve the safety of the accident blackspot west of Norwich.
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