Transport bosses said last night that plans to repair a main bridge into Yarmouth should not lead to the chaotic scenes at Lowestoft's bascule bridge.The Highways Agency will close the A12 Breydon bridge for four nights from November 23 for work on deteriorating deck joints.

Transport bosses said last night that plans to repair a main bridge into Yarmouth should not lead to the chaotic scenes at Lowestoft's bascule bridge.

The Highways Agency will close the A12 Breydon bridge for four nights from November 23 for work on deteriorating deck joints.

For the last year beleaguered motorists have been caught in jams as the bascule bridge at Lowestoft has been closed for extensive repairs and traders have complained about a drop in custom.

Lowestoft is bracing itself for 10 more overnight closures this month and in December as the £2.3m repair work goes on.

When the 23-year-old Breydon Bridge is closed, the A12 between the Gapton Hall and Acle New Road roundabouts will be closed and traffic diverted along the A1243.

A Highways Agency spokesman said: “The work on the Breydon bridge is not considered critical at this stage but obviously something needs to be done. It will not be on the scale of what is happening on the bascule bridge.”

The Highways Agency will advertise the exact times of the Breydon bridge closure and emergency vehicles will still be able to use the bridge during the works.

When it opened in 1985 the bridge over the River Yare and Breydon Water had the longest lifting section of any bridge in the country.