£16m scheme to increase size of Guyhirn roundabout to ease bottleneck will start by 2020 and take around two years to complete says Highways England

Work on a £16 million scheme to improve traffic flow and safety at the Guyhirn roundabout on the A47 will begin within the next two or three and will take around two years to complete.

Highways England announced the timetable for the project, which is one of six schemes it is carrying out along the 115 mile section of the A47 from Peterborough to Great Yarmouth to relieve congestion and make life better for drivers, today (Monday).

The Guyhirn roundabout scheme, which was the subject of public consultation earlier this year, will see the size of the roundabout increase and create three lanes on all approaches at the junction.

Highways England plan to widen the existing carriageway on the River Nene bridge to accommodate the additional traffic lane.

The roundabout improvements is one of six projects that also include converting almost eight miles of single carriageway to dual carriageway and improvements to other junctions and all of which is set to cost around £300 million and are due to be carried out between 2019/20 and 2022.

The six schemes, which were part of the government’s Roads Investment Strategy announced in 2014, are: A47 Wansford to Sutton dualling; A47 Guyhirn junction improvement; A47 North Tuddenham to Easton dualling; A47 Blofield to North Burlingham dualling; A47/A11 Thickthorn junction improvement; A47 Great Yarmouth junction improvements.

Highways England says the roundabout project is essential because the A47 (Fen Road to South Brink) and the A141 (March Road) at Guyhirn “currently experiences high levels of congestion, acting as a bottleneck, leading to longer and unreliable journey times.”

And says there are a number of reasons for these delays with the agency’s investigations highlighting the roundabout’s traffic capacity, lack of lane space poor visibility for drivers on the approach to the roundabout, increasing traffic is outgrowing the capacity of the road causing tailbacks and delays and development in the local area potentially leading to more vehicles on the road.

And concluded in its consultation document: “If nothing is done to improve capacity and connectivity, these delays are forecast to get worse in future years.

“In developing this scheme we aim to address these issues by improving the junction. The scheme will support economic growth by making journeys safer and more reliable.”