Fast forward – freshly laid road surface marks significant progress for A47 in Norfolk one year on
A smooth new surface has been laid on the A47 between Blofield and North Burlingham – a year on from work starting on the road dualling project.
Meanwhile, 12 huge new beams weighing 35 tonnes each have been lifted into place for a new bridge, which will ultimately take traffic from Blofield to join the A47 East bound to Great Yarmouth.
And unique features to enhance and protect wildlife are being created with a new wetland and special “bat and bird crossings” – with tall trees planted to encourage them to cross high above the new road.
With 30,000 vehicles using this section of road daily, the new stretch of dual carriageway is set to open to traffic by summer 2026, easing congestion, improving safety and resilience and speeding up journey times.
National Highways Programme Lead, Chris Griffin, said: “This is a significant step forward for the project and a great time for motorists and the local community to see the progress we have made. It is not too far away until the new dual carriageway will be completed.
“This new road will reduce congestion, improve the flow of traffic – especially at the road junctions – make journey times more reliable and increase the capacity of the A47 to cope with more vehicles in the future. But most importantly, in a stretch prone to collisions, it will improve safety.”
Tom Farley, Galliford Try Project Director, said: “After a year of construction, I’m proud to say we’ve achieved significant progress on this vital scheme for Norfolk. The improved stretch of the A47 will provide a far safer road for local people like me and help support future economic growth in the region.”
With work currently continuing on the North Tuddenham to Easton sister project on the A47, a huge number of materials have been shared to save carbon.
The work on this 2.6-mile stretch of carriageway involves replacing the existing single-lane section of the A47 with a new two-lane dual carriageway.
Safety improvements have also been made to the Yarmouth Road junction at Blofield, closing the right turn and adding a dedicated lane to join the A47.
A new bridge has been added over the new dual carriageway to connect the villages of Blofield and North Burlingham and take traffic from Blofield toward Great Yarmouth. In addition, the B1140 junction is being changed, with a new two-tier junction connecting B1140 South Walsham Road (north of the A47) with B1140 Coxhill Road (south of the A47). Direct access from Lingwood Road and Lingwood Lane to the A47 will be closed when it becomes a dual carriageway.
The project is committed to no net loss of habitats or biodiversity – there will be a 40 per cent net gain in biodiversity with hedgerows, planting new areas of woodland, scrub and grassland to increase habitats for badgers and reptiles. The project will see integrating of existing bat flight paths into the new hedgerows and tree lines. The trees planted at bat crossing points will be at least 4.5m high and will encourage bats, birds and barn owls to cross high above the road. Overall, more than 65,000 new trees and shrubs will be planted.
The scheme will also provide new safe dedicated cycleways.
This section of dual carriageway will be open by summer 2026 with project completion in early 2027.
Key stats to the project
-150 members of the Blofield team (76%) are considered local (within 40 miles)
-Four military veterans are employed on the project
-110,000m3 or 13,750 lorry loads of excess material from the A47 Tuddenham scheme was transported to be re-used at Blofield minimising road congestion and saving carbon.
-The project uses Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel which is considered low carbon because it uses electricity to melt recycled steel, which produces less greenhouse gas emissions than traditional steelmaking methods.
-New 8km cycleway along the new A47 and the de-trunked (existing) A47.
-12 bat boxes and 54 bird boxes installed (40 generalised, 5 barn owl, 2 tawny owl, 5 kestrel, 2 mallard tubes).
Notes to Editors
National Highways is the wholly government-owned company responsible for modernising, maintaining and operating England’s motorways and major A roads.
Real-time traffic information for England’s motorways and major A roads is available via the Traffic England website, local and national radio travel bulletins, electronic road signs and mobile apps. Local Twitter services are also available.
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