Press release: Work completed early as part of the A12 becomes the A47

The change sees what was the A12 between Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft now become a part of the A47. This ensures that the A47 is a continuous trunk road from Peterborough to Lowestoft, while the A12 is a continuous trunk road between Ipswich and London.

Work started in mid-January and was expected to be completed tomorrow (Wednesday 8 March), but was actually completed last Wednesday (1 March). Most of the affected signage has had patches stuck on detailing that the road is now the A47 rather than A12, while signage that needed replacing now displays the new road name.

This has delivered on one of the commitments in the Government’s Road Investment Strategy, which will see a record £15 billion invested in England’s motorways and trunk roads, with £3 billion of that in the East of England.

Highways England project sponsor Steve Cox said:

Highways England is committed to ensuring that our work causes minimal disruption for drivers across the East of England, and we are pleased to have been able to complete this work early to ensure that is the case. This work now ensures that both the A47 and A12 are continuous trunk roads connecting our important towns and cities.

The renumbering follows recent improvement work to the A47 Acle Straight as the road passes through The Broads, which saw improvements to traffic signs and road markings at the A1064 roundabout, Wherryman’s Way and the Halvergate junction.

It also comes ahead of consultations into major upgrades elsewhere on the A47 that will be start in 2020, with a series of consultations into these set for the public to share their views at to be launched shortly. These works will include:

• dualling of the A47 between Norwich and Dereham
• improving the A11 and A47 Thickthorn junction
• dualling the A47 between Norwich and the Acle Straight
• improving two junctions at Great Yarmouth, including reconstructing the Vauxhall roundabout

Martin Wilby, chairman of the Norfolk County Council’s Environment, Transport and Development Committee, said:

We support the work that Highways England has recently been carrying out in the east of the county and, like many people in Norfolk, are looking forward to their forthcoming consultation on the major improvements they intend to make to the A47. These upgrades to the A47 will make a huge difference to the county and its prosperity, and we’ll be working with Highways England to do all we can to ensure they can get underway as soon as possible.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

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