Laura Bagshaw MOTORISTS are being urged to get clued up on major £1m road scheme starting in Great Yarmouth in October in a bid to minimise disruption. Sections of South Quay, Hall Quay, North Quay and Haven Bridge will undergo a major revamp as part of a scheme to reinforce the roads in anticipation of the extra traffic the outer harbour is expected to generate.

Laura Bagshaw

MOTORISTS are being urged to get clued up on major £1m road scheme starting in Great Yarmouth in October in a bid to minimise disruption.

Sections of South Quay, Hall Quay, North Quay and Haven Bridge will undergo a major revamp as part of a scheme to reinforce the roads in anticipation of the extra traffic the outer harbour is expected to generate.

David Allfrey, project manager, briefed members of Norfolk County Council's area committee for Yarmouth during a meeting at the town hall on Monday .

He said the county council had tried to minimise disruption as much as possible by programming the work in phases and said it was vital that commuters had knowledge of when and where work would be happening over October and November in order to reduce congestion as much as possible.

He said: “We realise there will be disruption but we are doing everything we can to reduce that. There will be notable impact on bus services and we are working with local bus companies to rework timetables.

“We did look at other options, one of those involved completely shutting Haven Bridge but we thought that to be a step too far. This is the most sensible scheme on balance.”

He added: “We are carrying out an extensive publicity exercise with letter drops to businesses in the area. There are also displays at the town hall and library and details of work will be on the county council's website.”

“With the materials we are using we would expect the road to last for probably 20 years,” said Mr Allfrey.

Minor works to widen lanes at Hall Quay will start in September and work to reinforce part of Southgates Road will begin on November 8 and be carried out over three weekends.

Improvement work to lanes around the town hall will be carried out in January because of the ongoing re-roofing work at the building.

Conservative councillor Jim Shrimplin asked what the worst possible scenario could be if works overrun.

Mr Allfrey replied: “We are confident we will complete the work within the given time frame.”

Mr Shrimplin added he hoped the county council was liaising with the Highways Agency over the works so there was not a repeat of traffic chaos seen earlier this year when maintenance was carried out on both Haven and Breydon bridges.

Reassuring councillors Mr Allfrey said the county council had had intensive discussions with the Highways Agency over the work and said everything was being done to ensure that scenario did not happen again.

Labour councillor John Holmes said: “It is very important to do this work in advance of the outer harbour and already there is more work at the harbour than we thought given the latest announcement of port land expansion.”

Mr Holmes said early notification of the works was needed on the A12 and A47 to ensure motorists could make choices about their journey as they approach Yarmouth.”

Mr Holmes suggested derelict land in Southtown should be used as temporary parking areas for town workers who could walk over the bridge.

“People used to do that at Matalan until they put a two hours restriction on the car park,” he said.

Mr Allfrey said the county council was looking at parking options and more details would be released nearer the time of the works.