A47 Vauxhall roundabout, Great Yarmouth junction improvements

We are developing proposals to make improvements to Vauxhall roundabout in Great Yarmouth to reduce congestion and improve safety in the area.

Start date Tbc

End date Tbc

Cost Tbc

Latest updates

16 January 2024

Surveys during Spring 2024 and beyond

During 2022 and 2023, we have carried out surveys around Vauxhall roundabout. These surveys included ecology, noise and landscape and have helped to form our design. The surveys help to ensure we reduce our impact on the surrounding environment.

We have also carried out ground investigations. The information gathered have given the team a clearer picture of the ground conditions, including what rock and groundwater are beneath the area of the roundabout.

During 2024 we may have further surveys to undertake as our design progresses. These include surveys of the existing road carriageway and embankments, so you may see some activity around the junction. While we will always look to minimise disruption, we may need to carry out some surveys during overnight road closures.

We will communicate any impactful activities ahead of the work starting.
27 February 2023

Surveys, Summer 2023

In summer 2022, we did important surveys in the areas around Vauxhall roundabout. These included ecology, noise and landscape surveys that will help us to refine our design and ensure we reduce our impact on the surrounding environment. We also carried out ground investigations.

During 2023, we will continue with our surveys at Vauxhall roundabout, include surveys of the existing carriageway and embankments to help guide our design. The investigations give engineers a clearer picture of the type of soils, rock and groundwater beneath the area of the roundabout.

From spring and early summer, you may see survey vehicles and equipment around the Vauxhall roundabout, but this is not the start of any construction work. Survey works may sometimes require overnight closures (8pm to 6am), and we will do our best to keep this to a minimum to reduce the impact on customers using the network.

See more updates

Project information

The A47 route is the only east to west road link in north East Anglia. It is the main road link between the East Midlands region, Peterborough, Wisbech, King’s Lynn, Norwich and Great Yarmouth.

The Vauxhall roundabout is the principal access into the town from the west via the Acle Straight.

Traffic studies show that improving the Vauxhall roundabout would make journeys quicker, safer and more reliable, allow for increased future traffic and help grow the local economy.

Following the preferred route announcement in August 2017, the original proposals were reviewed in light of the town’s Third River Crossing, which was awarded government funding shortly after our original proposals were announced.

The modelling completed for the Third River Crossing project showed notable changes in the way traffic accessed Great Yarmouth town and port areas.

The Department for Transport agreed that we should pause work on our original proposed designs to undertake further traffic modelling and assessment.

We then worked collaboratively with Norfolk County Council to review the changes in traffic flows and the impact on traffic using the A47 and its junctions.

Originally, we proposed to improve the Vauxhall and Gapton roundabouts. However, updated traffic modelling showed that these changes would no longer bring the intended benefits to the future road network, once the Third River Crossing is complete. We are now looking at improving the Vauxhall and Harfrey’s roundabouts instead.

When the Third River Crossing is operational, Harfrey’s roundabout will become the principal access into the town from the south. Our proposals were therefore redesigned to take these new circumstances into account. As a result, we are no longer looking to change the Gapton roundabout, and will make improvements to the Harfrey's roundabout.

Find more about our work at Harfrey’s roundabout.

We are still developing proposals for improvements to the Vauxhall roundabout, but improvements to the junction with Station Road have been removed from the design as this work has already been completed by Norfolk County Council.

In summer 2022, we did important surveys in the areas around the Vauxhall and Harfrey’s roundabouts. These included ecology, noise and landscape surveys that will help us to refine our design and ensure we reduce our impact on the surrounding environment. We also carried out ground investigations at the Vauxhall roundabout.

During 2023, we've continued with our surveys at Vauxhall roundabout, including surveys of the existing carriageway and embankments to help guide our design. The investigations give engineers a clearer picture of the type of soils, rock and groundwater beneath the area of the roundabout.

From spring and early summer, you may have seen survey vehicles and equipment around the Vauxhall roundabout, but this is not the start of any construction work. Survey work sometimes requires overnight closures (8pm to 6am), but we will do our best to keep this to a minimum to reduce the impact on customers using the network.

The stretch of the A47 around Great Yarmouth experiences heavy congestion during peak times. The changes to the Vauxhall roundabout will increase capacity of the existing junction to relieve congestion, reduce journey times, encourage economic growth and improve journeys.

This project aims to:

improve safety and reduce collisions
reduce delays and make journey times more reliable
increase the ability of the junction to cope with incidents such as collisions and breakdowns, or during road maintenance and extreme weather
approve amenities for cyclists and pedestrians

Because we’d updated our proposals for the A47 Great Yarmouth Junctions Improvements, we asked you to share your thoughts, concerns, ideas or local knowledge on Vauxhall and Harfrey’s roundabouts.

The scheme update period for the A47 Great Yarmouth Junctions Improvements reached its conclusion on Monday 10 January 2022, after running for six weeks. During this period, we shared our updated designs for the Harfrey’s and Vauxhall roundabouts and invited feedback from the public and stakeholders. There was a leaflet which provided more detail about the latest design. We also held three in-person events and hosted a virtual exhibition room. All feedback received during the period was formally reviewed by the project team.

You can read more about the past consultations for this scheme, such as the A47 Great Yarmouth junction improvements consultation which ran from 13 March to 21 April 2017